Sensex closes flat amid consolidation; HDFC, L&T up 1%

It was completely a lacklustre session for the market on Wednesday despite positive global cues. The BSE Sensex gained more than 100 points in early trade following strong US earnings that lifted US markets 1% yesterday. As the day progressed the market erased those gains and saw a consolidation for rest of the session.

The 50-share NSE Nifty rose just 12.25 points to close at 5,660.25 after trading in a range of 5635-5665. Overall it has been in a tight range of 5600-5750 since last week, especially after sharp run up in last month on strong inflow of foreign money.

It has seen some correction since that run up but still moving in that range.

While explaining the trend, Sandip Sabharwal of Prabhudas Lilladher said, "India did not correct when some of the other markets were correcting because the news flow out of the Government on the policy front continue to be positive. So I think it is just a phase of consolidation. I don't see a big downturn coming through."

According to him, the results of the second quarter are expected to be mixed, he

The 30-share BSE Sensex went up 33.07 points to 18,610.77 after losing more than 100 points yesterday.

Housing finance company HDFC and engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro rose 1 percent each.

Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors, telecom operator Bharti Airtel and state-run power equipment maker BHEL too were up 1 percent.

Cigarette major ITC and software services exporter Infosys moved up over 0.5 percent.

Country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank gained 0.7 percent while its rivals HDFC Bank and State Bank of India fell over 0.5 percent.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries and top IT services exporter TCS lost 1 percent each.

Shares of realty major DLF shed another 3.3 percent due to ongoing concerns over Robert Vadra land deal.

Cement producers Ambuja Cements and ACC were down 3 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

In the second line shares, IRB Infrastructure plunged 4 percent despite the company's clarification about role of Nikhil Gadkari (son of BJP President Nitin Gadkari).

IRB Infra said, ''Ideal Power and Ideal Energy Project have never been part of group and Nikhil Gadkari has never been director of any IRB companies.''

GVK Power and GMR Infrastructure were down 2.6-3.6 percent on likely abolition of airport development fees.

Reliance Communications climbed 4 percent on TDSAT order.

Karnataka Bank was up 0.65 percent and Infotech Enterprises gained 2 percent post September quarter earnings.

Declining shares outnumbered advancing by a ratio of 1532 to 1284 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

European shares edged higher with the Spanish IBEX the main gainer as Moody's kept its credit rating unchanged on the country and European officials told Reuters, Madrid will request a ''precautionary'' line of credit from the EU. (With inputs from CNBC)

France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britian's FTSE were up 0.3 percent (at 15:35 hours IST)

The 50-share NSE Nifty continued to trade in a narrow range of 5630-5660 since morning trade following directionless trade in European markets. State-owned gas transportation services provider GAIL, cement maker Ambuja Cements and realty major DLF were down 2-3 percent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 27 points to 18,550.88 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 11 points to 5,637.30.

Private oil & gas producer Reliance Industries, top software services exporter TCS, country's largest lender State Bank of India and cement producer ACC declined 1 percent each.

Private sector lender HDFC Bank, drug producer Sun Pharma, steel manufacturer Tata Steel and FMCG major Hindustan Unilever were down 0.5 percent.

Shares of HDFC, ITC, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, BHEL, Maruti, NTPC and Wipro gained 0.4-1 percent.

Indo Rama Synthetics (India) surged 18 percent after the company posted a net profit of Rs 103.6 crore in the second quarter of FY13 as against loss of Rs 22.8 crore in a year ago period.

Deccan Chronicle Holdings (DCHL) rose over 2 percent to Rs 8.91 after the company's board members have agreed to execute MoU with Mumbai based real estate company Kamla Landmarc for sale of IPL team Deccan Chargers. Kamla Landmarc agreed to pay DCHL consideration of Rs 1,250 crore for the deal and also agreed to furnish DCHL bank guarantees.

The 50-share NSE Nifty remained floating at around the 5650 level due to lack of global and local cues. The consolidation indicates that the market already priced in positive US cues by rising over 100 points on the Sensex in early trade. Now it started concentrating on European markets, which opened flat to positive.

Ajay Srivastava, CEO of Dimensions Consulting feels the market atleast looks to be at consolidation because nothing much has changed in the market.

The market is waiting for the Reserve Bank of India's move after slightly higher than expected inflation in September. Inflation rose by 26 basis points to 7.81 percent in September due to hike in diesel price by Rs 5 a litre, which is still above the RBI's comfort level of 5-6 percent.

"With positive vibes coming from the Finance Minister on deficit reduction, RBI should take a little more benevolent view (policy meet is scheduled for October 30) given his commitment on fiscal deficit. So it looks to be in a good place at a good time. The only caveat for the market is that are we fairly pricing in the positives that is the key question,"" Srivastava adds.

The BSE benchmark was up 14 points at 18,591.73 and the NSE benchmark gained 2.7 points at 5,650.70.

Cigarette major ITC, housing finance company HDFC and top car maker Maruti Suzuki climbed 0.9 percent each.

Country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank rose 0.6 percent while its rivals State Bank of India and Axis Bank were marginally down.

State-run oil & gas producer ONGC, telecom operator Bharti Airtel, coal mining company Coal India, power equipment maker BHEL and software services exporter Wipro moved up 0.5 percent each.

Commercial vehicle manufacturer Tata Motors, engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro and IT services provider Infosys were up just 0.3 percent.

Shares of Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services and GAIL were down 1-1.7 percent. Hindustan Unilever, Tata Steel, Sterlite and Hero Motocorp fell 0.4 percent.

Indian shares continued to trade flat to positive after losing somewhat early gains. The 50-share NSE Nifty remained above the 5650 level, rising just 11 points to 5,659.

Overall the index has been a range of 5600-5750 since last week. It seems that the 5600 looks like a support for the Nifty, say experts. Another major support for the Indian equities is inflow of foreign money and hopes of more reforms to reduce fiscal deficit was another positive for the market.

Amit Gupta, head- derivatives, ICICI Direct says the best part of the market is it is absorbing the selling pressure. According to him, 5,600 will act as a very good support for the Nifty.

Meanwhile, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose 38.81 points to 18,616.51.

Private power producer Tata Power topped the buying list with gains of more than 2 percent. Shares of Punjab National Bank, Lupin, Cairn India, Maruti and Jaiprakash Associates gained 1-2 percent.

Housing finance company HDFC, private sector lender ICICI Bank, engineering & construction major Larsen & Toubro and commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors climbed 0.6-0.8 percent.

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel, two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto, software services exporter Wipro and aluminium major Hindalco Industries rose 0.6 percent.

Shares of Reliance Industries, TCS, Hindustan Unilever, GAIL, Sterlite Industries and ACC were down 0.6-1 percent. Ambuja Cements and DLF lost 1.8 percent each.

Indian equity benchmarks erased early gains and went near to previous day's low, weighed down by Reliance Industries and TCS. Metals stocks and State Bank of India too pared early gains.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 16 points to 18,593.62 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 4 points at 5,652.10. Even the broader markets came off day's high with BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gaining 0.2-0.6 percent.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries fell 0.7 percent. Country's largest software services exporter TCS, utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra and FMCG major Hindustan Unilever were down 0.5 percent each.

Private sector lender Axis Bank and real estate major DLF (due to Robert Vadra land deal) declined 1 percent each.

Maruti Suzuki, India's largest car maker gained another 1.5 percent following more than 2 percent gains yesterday after the company launched its new Alto 800.

Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors, engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro, telecom operator Bharti Airtel, two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto and software services exporter Wipro gained 0.5-0.8 percent.

Cigarette major ITC and private sector lender ICICI Bank rose 0.4 percent each. Shares of Infosys, HDFC, Dr Reddy's Labs and BHEL were up 0.3 percent.

HCL Technologies was off its 52-week high of Rs 605.75 (gain of 3.3 percent) on profit booking. The stock was up 0.86 percent.

Advancing shares outnumbered declining by a ratio of 1228 to 938 on the BSE.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened Wednesday's trade with more than 100 points gap up following strong earnings from US that lifted Wall Street 1% yesterday. But the market immediately came off day's high on profit booking.

The BSE benchmark rose 73.28 points to 18,651 and the NSE benchmark went up 20 points to 5,667.80, which has been in a range of 5600-5750 since last week.

Sudarshan Sukhani, s2analytics.com says the Nifty is now in a well defined trading range. "The trading range is 5,640 on the downside and 5,730 on the upside," he adds.

The Indian rupee appreciated 19 paise to 52.68 against the US dollar.

Shares of software services exporter HCL Technologies  gained 3 percent to above Rs 600 level on better-than-expected profit and margins in September quarter.

Net profit rose by higher than expected 3.61 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 885 crore whlie analysts on an average had forecast of Rs 788 crore. EBITDA margin grew 23 basis points QoQ to 22.2% while analysts had estimated it at 19.9%.

JP Associates, L&T, BHEL, SBI, Tata Steel, Infosys, Sesa Goa, Maruti, DLF, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda and Cairn India led markets higher in early trade.

Tata Motors bounced back with 1 percent gains. Yesterday the stock fell 2.6 percent after weak global sales data in September.

HDFC Bank, ITC, Hindustan Unilever and Reliance Industries were flat.

The CNX Midcap rose 52 points to 7911 as about three shares advanced for every share

In the second line shares, Mindtree fell over 3 percent and Zensar Tech declined 2 percent on disappointing numbers in quarter ended September 2012.

GVK Power & Infra and GMR Infrastructure declined 1-3% after the Aviation Ministry said airport development fee (ADF) would be abolished at Delhi and Mumbai airports.

JSW Steel was down 2.5 percent as sources said the CBI has filed chargesheet against company's Sajjan Jindal, CEO and Senior VP.

United Spirits, UB Holdings and Kingfisher Airlines were up 1-2%.

Alok Industries rose 2% as the company is in pact to sell some floors at Peninsula business park located at Lower Parel in Mumbai. It has so far received Rs 138 crore for sale of two floors.

Jain Irrigation gained another 1.7% following yesterday's more than 1 percent gains.

Subex, Lanco Infratech, Indiabulls Real and DB Realty rallied 2-4 percent.

On the global front, Asian markets like Hang Seng, Nikkei and Kospi were up 0.8-1.5 percent.