After starting firm, the indices overcame an early bout of volatility to rally ahead and the Sensex was trading with gains of well over 100 points by mid-morning. They traded within a range till mid-afternoon when they slipped and gave up part of the gains.

Sensex closed with gains of 47 points at 14403 and the Nifty gained 19 points to end at 4165. Nifty February futures closed at a premium of 11 points to the spot index.

SAIL was the best performer among index stocks with gains of 5.01 per cent to end at a lifetime high.

ICICI Bank rallied after a firm start to close 3.22 per cent higher while OBC ended 3.12 per cent higher.

Oil marketing stocks recovered after a weak start. HPCL gained 2.37 per cent and BPCL closed 2.33 per cent higher.

Jet Airways sustained its uptrend and closed 1.6 per cent higher.

Reliance Industries added 0.98 per cent on unconfirmed reports of a new gas discovery.

Siemens led the engineering stocks with gains of 3.13 per cent while ABB added 3.02 per cent.

HCL Tech was the best performer among tech stocks with gains of 2.59 per cent. TCS gained 1.36 per cent.

Maruti continued to gains ground and added another 2.44 per cent.

Hero Honda tumbled 3.79 per cent after showing some signs of a recovery last week and was the biggest loser among index stocks.

Gujarat Ambuja Cements corrected 3.03 per cent after last Thursday's gains.

Hindalco resumed its down trend and lost 2.01 per cent while Nalco closed 1.35 per cent lower.

Zee Entertainment came under pressure and ended 2.89 per cent lower.

Suzlon lost further ground and ended 1.03 per cent lower
Reliance Energy lost 1.25 per cent.

MTNL, Dr. Reddy and Gail India were the other major losers.

Global markets / crude oil
Many Asian markets were closed today for the Chinese New Year and the ones which functioned today ended mostly higher. Japan added more than 0.35 per cent while Indonesia closed with gains of over 0.25 per cent. Thailand ended with losses of nearly 0.6 per cent.

European markets opened firm and are holding on to their gains. Major indices are trading with gains of between 0.25 and 0.55 per cent each in early afternoon trades.

Crude oil prices have corrected modestly after the previous week's range-bound movements. Near month NYMEX futures are trading with losses of close to 0.5 per cent at around $59 per barrel in European trades today.

Large-cap news flow

• L&T has won a $250 million order for construction of two new offshore oil platforms in Qatar. The order will be executed in 28 months.
• JSW Steel has shut down one of its furnaces which accounts for 20 per cent of capacity following a fire incident. The furnace may remain out of operation for up to 2 months for repairs.
• Gail India has signed an agreement for marketing a technology for conversion of natural gas into LPG, gasoline and diesel.
• L&T said its subsidiary L&T Infoetch has signed a MoU with French company Dassault Systems to provide consulting, development and implementation solutions around the product lifecycle management (PLM) product from Dassault.

Mid-Cap Action

Mid-caps and small caps were also firm in early trades but lost their way in the afternoon. The CNX Mid-Cap index ended 9 points, or 0.18 per cent, lower at 5236. BSE mid-cap index lost 0.03 per cent and the BSE small cap index ended with gains of 0.37 per cent.

Avaya Global Connect was locked in 20 per cent upper circuit while IFB Agro ended at 10 per cent upper circuit.

Broadcasting and entertainment stocks had another good day, led by Zee News which rallied 19.47 per cent. Mukta Arts surged 17.07 per cent and GBN ended

Among the recent listings, AI Champdany closed 18.38 per cent higher and Hanung Toys added 10.66 per cent.

Murli Industries, which got listed on the NSE today, ended 16.53 per cent higher.

Balaji Sponge, Soma Textiles and KPIT Cummins were the other major mid-cap gainers

Cambridge Technologies, AP Paper, Super Spinning, Goldstone Technologies, Asahi India, Ratnamani Metals, Shree Ashtavinayak, HOCL and Shree Renuka Sugars were the major losers among the major mid-cap losers.

Mid-cap news flow

• Aban Offshore said the open offer for Norwegian company Sinvest closed last week. As per preliminary review of acceptances received from minority shareholders, the company and its subsidiaries have raised their combined stake in Sinvest to 97 per cent.
• Parsvnath Developers has won a bid to develop 7.5 million square feet of residential space at a total cost of Rs1,750 crore over a period of 3 years.
• Shoppers Stop has signed a JV agreement with a Swiss company for duty free retail business in airports.
• Teledata Informatics would acquire Singapore-based IT products manufacturer and distributor eSys Technologies for $105 million.
• Biocon is planning to acquire 50 acres of land near Vizag for setting up a manufacturing facility at an investment of Rs50 crore.
• Nucleus Software has won an order for its flagship banking software product from a large Nigerian bank.
• The board of Corporation Bank would meet next week to consider the takeover of primary dealership business from its subsidiary
• Genus Overseas is planning to change its name to Genus Power Infrastructures
• Modi Alkalies has changed its name to Lords Chloro Alkali.
• India Infoline has received High Court approval for the merger of one of its subsidiaries.
• Alkyl Amines has completed the expansion of its ethylamine facilities.
• Ritesh Industries is planning to make a preferential issue of 25 lakh equity shares at a price of Rs20 per share
• Suprajit Engineering has received a 5-year order for cables worth Rs40 crore from Tata Motors. The company is also planning to set up a new automotive cable unit close to the proposed Tata Motors plant at Singur, West Bengal.
• Accentia Technologies is planning to raise up to $10 million to fund possible acquisitions in the US.
• The open offer for shares of Automotive Stampings by a Spanish company for Rs94.96 per share would open on 11 April. On completion of the open offer, it is envisaged that the existing promoter Tata Autocomp and the Spanish company would hold equal stakes in the company.
• Strides Arcolab has received UK regulatory approval for one of its manufacturing units
• The $200 million sponsored ADS programme of Subex Azure opened today and would close on 23 February.
• Granules India is planning to issue equity shares on a preferential basis.
• Spanco Tele would raise Rs125 crore by issuing equity shares and convertible warrants at a price of Rs214.91 per share to ChrysCapital and UTI Mutual Fund.
• AP Paper would raise Rs20 crore from a preferential issue of equity shares to promoters.
  
  

*Disclaimer: The author may have positions in some of the stocks specifically mentioned above at the time of writing this article. This analysis / report is only for the purpose of information and is not an investment advice. Readers are advised to consult a certified financial advisor before taking any investment decisions. While efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information provided in the content the author or publisher shall not be held responsible for any loss caused to any person whatsoever.