Markets end in green amid recovery in late trade

28 February 2008

It was a very quiet day for the markets as not much excitement was witnessed through out the day despite it being the last day of F&O expiry. The markets traded in red territory for most part of the day with marginal losses before pulling back sharply in late trade on account of some short covering and ended flat but in green.

It was a bad day for the banking, realty and energy stocks, broader markets also traded on weak note through the day giving negative breadth to markets. However, phrmaceutical, metal, capital good and auto stocks performed relatively well. On the volume front, it was quite muted, cash markets performance was extremely abysmal.

Sensex ended down 1.51 points or 0.01% at 17824.48, and the Nifty closed up 16.70 points or 0.32% at 5285.10. About 1398 shares advanced, 1566 shares declined, and 76 shares were unchanged. BSE midcap index ended down 0.15% at 7711.76 and smallcap index closed down 0.06% at 9668.16.

BSE auto index ended up 1.18% at 4829.86. Punjab Tractors, Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto stocks were the leading gainers in this space.  

BSE capital goods index closed up 0.56% at 16598.88. Astra Mocrowave, Alfa Laval, BEML and BHEL were among major gainers.

BSE healthcare index closed up 1.70% at 3925.75. Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Lab and Biocon and Cipla were the top gainers in pharma space.