Iris India

Today SGX Nifty is trading at 5,292.50 (8.41 am), 1 points higher than Wednesday`s closing of 5,291.50.

The Sensex for the fourth straight session settles on a positive note with marginal gains amid choppy session. Healthcare, realty and oil & gas stocks buck the trend, while IT, teck and metal traded lower. It opened with a gain of 33.23 points, at 17,719.47 on Wednesday on mixed global cues and later turned into red due to select buying and selling seen in frontliners. Further the index traded in a narrow range amid volatility on the back of directionless market. Finally, it closed on a flat note after touching a high of 17,790.33 and low of 17,636.71.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap index rose 0.68% at 6,945.94 and 0.44% at 8,601.91 respectively. The Sensex ended the day with a gain of 14.89 points, or 0.08% at 17,701.13 after touching a high of 17,790.33 and a low of 17,636.71.

The broad-based NSE Nifty climbed 3.90 points, or 0.07% at 5,281.80 after hitting a high of 5,310.85 and a low of 5,260.05. Leaders in the 30-share index were Tata Power Company (4.61%), Grasim Industries (4.28%), Mahindra & Mahindra (2.39%), DLF (2.38%), Reliance Industries (1.80%), and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (1.10%).

On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki India (3.50%), Hindalco Industries (2.45%), Reliance Infrastructure (2.30%), Tata Consultancy Services (2.28%), Wipro (1.65%), and Infosys Technologies (1.35%) were the major laggards in the Sensex pack. Overall market breadth was mixed.

Out of the total 2,970 stocks traded at BSE, 1,493 advanced, 1,402 declined while 75 remained unchanged.

Among the sectoral indices, BSE HC which went up 2.04%, Realty went up 1.43%, Oil & Gas went up 1.10%, Consumer Durables went up 0.68% and FMCG went up 0.53%, while BSE IT fell 1.41%, TECk fell 1.07%, Metal fell 0.98%, Auto lost 0.34% and Capital Goods lost 0.34%.

On global front, European stocks gained to a 15-month high as higher metals prices boosted the earnings outlook for basic-resource producers and automakers advanced. US index futures slipped.

Nifty is having major support at 5,250 and 5,122 while the resistance is there at 5,325 and 5,335 levels, said Alex Mathews head, Research Centre – Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services while opining on the trends of equity market for tomorrow. (Jan.7)

While commenting on the trends of equity markets for today (Jan.5) he said, ``The markets had opened on a positive note tracking the Asian markets and touched the 22 month high on Nifty but however showed volatility throughout the day moving in and out of the green and red line to finally close on a flat note. The US markets however had closed in red the other day on weak economic data. The market sentiment was positive in the morning as the HSBC Markit Business Activity Index rose to 57.41 in December against 55.2 in November. But later data came out saying that the sub-index business expectation was coming down and w as at 65.56 in December against 71.58 in November 2009. The markets held itself in a range without making major ups and downs. The Healthcare, banking and realty space witnessed some buying interest. However IT and metals faced some profit booking with Nalco, Hindalco, Sail etc down for the day. Tea stocks witnessed buying today also with Mcleod Russel, Norben Tea, Jayshree tea etc making good gains. The new listing today DB Corporation opened with a premium and closed with a gain of 26.75%. The European stocks which opened in the afternoon session were weak along with negativity in US index futures which made our market to close flat with Sensex up 0.08% and Nifty up 0.07%.``

``The three back to back IPOs which came out these days listed at a premium showing greater participation from the investor group. One thing that we can make out from this is the IPO markets has rejuvenating once again with less participation in the secondary markets which was evident from the range bound movements today and this channeling of fund is expected to go forward for some more time,`` he added.

``The market is in uptrend and in the near term the market is expected to move in a range 5,150 to 5,350,`` said Avinash Gupta, assistant vice president Research Equity, Bonanza Portfolio.

The market ended nearly flat after a choppy session. The market moved in narrow range. The volumes in derivative segment continued to be low today also. The number of advances and declines were evenly matched. The sugar stocks advanced today also in view of hardening of prices of sugar. PSU banking stocks witnessed demand as these offered value. Fertilizer stocks gained today.

Asian stocks rose, lifting the MSCI Asia Pacific Index for a fifth day, as the improved outlook for the global economy drove up commodity prices. Japanese benchmark index Nikkei 225 rose 9.93 points, or 0.09%, to trade at 10,741.38.

Hong Kong`s Hang Seng is trading advanced 131.36 points, or 0.59%, at 22,548.03. China`s Shanghai Composite increased 13.64 points, or 0.42% to trade at 3,267.85. Taiwan`s Taiex index declined 8.47 points, or.0.10%, to trade at 8,319.15. South Korea`s Kospi index dropped 4.49 points, or 0.26% to trade at 1,700.83. Singapore`s Straits Times index increased 8.94 points, or to 0.31% trade at 2,939.43. (7.49 a.m., IST)

US stocks flat on Wednesday as a batch of mixed economic reports and signs of division among Federal Reserve policy makers offered little new insight into the economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.66 points, or less than 0.02%, to 10,573.68. The broader S&P 500 index rose 0.62 points, or 0.1%, to 1,137.14, its highest close since Oct. 1, 2008. The Nasdaq composite index fell 7.62 points, or 0.33%, to 2,301.09.

Indian ADRs end mixed.

Oil prices fell slightly on Wednesday ahead of data on US energy stockpiles and amid expectations that a spike in heating fuel demand caused by cold weather across the northern hemisphere will tail off.

Benchmark crude settled down 0.11% to USD 83.09 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In other Nymex trading in February contracts, heating oil rose less than a penny to settle at USD 2.2032 a gallon. Gasoline rose 1.16 cents to settle at USD 2.1366 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 37.2 cents to settle just above USD 6. In London, Brent crude for February delivery rose 130 cents to settle at USD 81.89 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.