Mumbai: It was another day of consolidation for equity benchmarks on Tuesday due to lack of volumes while the broader markets mildly outperformed. Banks and capital goods stocks supported the market while oil & gas and metals stocks were under pressure.
The 30-share BSE Sensex advanced 7.81 points to 27403.54 while the 50-share NSE Nifty failed to close above the 8250 level, up 1.95 points at 8248.25.
The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.5 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively. Experts remained cautious on the market ahead of third quarter earnings season (that will begin on January 9 with Infosys).
Sanjay Dutt of Quantum Securities is slightly cautious on the markets. He expects the Nifty to stabilise in the 7800-8000 range while he does not expect markets to hit new highs before the Budget.
Meanwhile, the rupee recovered from day's low to trade at 63.40 a dollar, up 26 paise. On the global front, Asian markets closed in the red with the Nikkei and Hang Seng falling 1-1.6 percent while European markets - France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were down 0.6 percent each (at 16 hours IST).
In commodities, Brent crude hit five and a half year low of $57 a barrel as persistent worries about a global supply glut offset concerns about output disruptions in Libya. Brent February futures fell 0.7 per cent to $57.46 a barrel while US crude slipped 0.5 percent to $53.34 a barrel.
On the home turf, banking and financials stocks like HDFC Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, State Bank of India gained 0.5-1 per cent. Dr Reddy's Labs, NTPC and BHEL topped the buying list, up 1-1.5 percent. However, Hero Motocorp, Reliance Industries, ONGC, Bajaj Auto, Sesa Sterlite and Coal India were down 1-2 per cent.
Cairn India was down 1.9 per cent on further fall in Brent crude oil prices. Tata Steel fell nearly 2 percent as the company warned of a hit to its profitability in the third quarter of FY15 because of the closure of its captive iron-ore mines in Jharkhand and Odisha.
The closure of mines forced the company to operate below capacity for more than a month during the quarter. The big story of the day was that the government on Monday evening approved ordinance to amend the Land Acquisition Act.
Sectors such as power, housing defense will benefit. Goldman Sachs says L&T to gain as execution of PPP projects will pick up pace. Religare says the implementation of the dedicated freight corridor/industrial corridor would get a boost on expected faster clearance of remaining land.
This would be a key positive for logistic players such as Container Corporation, it adds. In the broader space, IDBI Bank gained 2.7 percent as the board approved sale of part of entire stake in CARE Ratings. The bank told CNBC-TV18 that the time seems right to monetise its stake in CARE and could receive Rs 600-700 crore for the entire shareholding at current market price.
Jindal Stainless was up 2 percent as the board received approval to restructure its business. The board approved one demerger and three slump sales. The management expects debt to reduce by Rs 5000 crore via the entire restructuring process.
Godrej Properties gained more than 3 percent as the company will act as a development manager for a new project in Vikhroli. Other news was that the real estate company's subsidiary Godrej Projects Development Private Limited acquired 49 percent of the paid-up share capital and entire debentures of Godrej Premium Builders Private Limited from Madhavi SA Investments LLC and Madhavi Ventures.
Deccan Gold Mines jumped nearly 12 percent as board approved increasing FII limit in company to 24 percent from 10 percent. About 1448 shares advanced and 1415 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange while on the National Stock Exchange, 724 shares advanced and 700 shares slipped.
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