Helped by mostly positive cues from other Asian markets, the indices started the day on a firm note. Sensex posted a new lifetime high of 14724 in early trades but the Nifty could not move past its previous high. However, they gave up all their gains and slipped into the red as many frontline stocks came under pressure.

After touching their lows in early afternoon trades, the indices made a few attempts at recovery towards the end of the session. The last half hour saw another fall and they ended close to their day's lows.

Sensex closed with losses of 113 points at 14539 and the Nifty lost 36 points to end at 4187. Nifty February futures closed at a discount of 14 points to the spot index.

Telecom stocks were among the worst hit in today's fall. MTNL was the biggest loser and ended 3.87 per cent lower. Reliance Communications slipped 2.63 per cent and VSNL gave up 2.11 per cent. Bharti ended 1.91 per cent lower.

Cement stocks also lost heavily after the recent gains. ACC gave up 2.95 per cent. Gujarat Ambuja shed 2.05 per cent while Grasim closed with modest losses.

Satyam was the worst performer among tech stocks with losses of 3.51 per cent.

PNB was the biggest loser among banks and closed 2.12 per cent lower. ICICI and SBI closed with modest losses.

Some of the financial sector stocks which had rallied in recent weeks lost heavily. IDBI lost 8.47 per cent while IFCI ended 6.58 per cent lower. IDFC gave up 4.2 per cent.

Higher crude oil prices led to a 2.09 per cent fall in HPCL while BPCL gave up 1.54 per cent.

L&T corrected 2.31 per cent after the recent gains.

Among other major losers, Maruti closed 2.17 per cent lower and IPCL gave up 2.56 per cent.

Zee Entertainment surged in afternoon trades and ended with gains of 5.46 per cent.

Bajaj Auto resumed its up trend, but gave up part of the gains in late trades to close 1.7 per cent higher.

OBC rallied 2.72 per cent while HDFC Bank gained 0.36 per cent. HDFC ended 0.54 per cent higher.

Wipro recovered 1.2 per cent after yesterday's decline.

Tata Motors bounced back 0.92 per cent.

Gail India and ABB were the other gainers.

Global markets / crude oil
US indices declined modestly yesterday on profit booking and sustained concerns about corporate performance. The decision by the ECB and Bank of England to hold interest rates helped the sentiment and prevented further losses. The rally in crude oil prices helped oil stocks.

The Dow closed with losses of nearly 0.25 per cent while the S&P 500 gave up over 0.1 per cent. Technology stocks were relatively better and the NASDAQ ended with losses of over 0.05 per cent.

Asian markets were mixed today as well following the modest decline in US indices and higher oil prices. Japan was the best performer, gaining nearly 1.25 per cent, while Thailand continued it's up trend and ended 0.6 per cent higher. South Korea gained 0.3 per cent and Singapore closed 0.1 per cent higher.

Indonesia slipped another 0.65 while Malaysia also lost close to 0.65 per cent. Shanghai and Hong Kong both ended with losses of nearly 0.3 per cent each.

European markets were firm in opening trades and are holding on to those gains. Major indices are trading with gains of between 0.45 and 0.45 per cent each in early afternoon trades.

Crude oil prices rallied yesterday and touched $60 per barrel following an accident in a natural gas field in the US. Near month NYMEX futures ended $2 per barrel higher at $59.71 per barrel yesterday. The commodity has lost more than 0.5 per cent in European trades today.

Large-cap news flow

• Suzlon Energy, in partnership with a Portuguese company, would acquire the whole of a German manufacturer of wind turbines for an undisclosed sum. Further details have not been disclosed, but reports indicate the deal size to be in the region of $1.5 billion.
  
  
• Canara Bank has received RBI permission to enter the primary dealership business.
  
  
• HCL Technologies has opened a dedicated offshore centre for Microsoft.
  
  
• Cairn Energy has been awarded 2 oil & gas exploration blocks in partnership with other companies. Cairn would hold a 40 per cent stake in an offshore block and 25 per cent in another.
  
  
• L&T has signed an agreement with European defence major EADS for joint exploration of business opportunities in the defence space.
  
  
• Shipping Corp has clarified that the company is not aware of any move by the government to dilute its stake in the company.
  
  
• A division of Mahindra & Mahindra would be involved in designing and building an aircraft along with PSU companies, according to unconfirmed reports.

Mid-Cap Action

Mid-caps and small caps saw heavy selling pressure today and ended with substantial losses. The CNX Mid-Cap index ended 118 points, or 2.19 per cent, lower at 5292. BSE mid-cap index lost 1.76 per cent and the BSE small cap index ended with losses of 2.1 per cent.

Pochiraju Industries got listed on the exchanges today. Issued at Rs30, the stock opened at Rs45.1 on the NSE and saw a high of Rs63.7. The stock finally ended at Rs49.65.

Bajaj Auto Finance rallied 17.96 per cent on rumours that the company would be merged with the insurance & investments division of Bajaj Auto, as and when the de-merger of the parent company happens.

Steel Strips Wheels ended at 10 per cent upper circuit.

Nelco, Ennore Foundries, Spentex, Prime Focus, IFB Industries and HOCL were the other major mid-cap gainers

Some of the big gainers from recent sessions continued to correct today. Cambridge Technologies, Ind-Swift Labs, Blue Bird, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Tourism Finance Corp and Pyramid Saimira all lost substantially.

JK Lakshmi, Ashapura Minechem and Granules India were among the major mid-cap losers.

Mid-cap news flow

• Garware Offshore has entered into an agreement with a Norwegian shipyard to market vessels manufactured by the latter and has received orders for 4 vessels. The company would also set up a KPO division for marine designs.
  
  
• Taneja Aerospace would acquire 2 small aircrafts from Cessna.
  
  
• Shareholders of Shivalik Global have approved the merger of Shyam Tex International with the company.
  
  
• Hindustan Construction has received a new order worth Rs110 crore for irrigation projects.
  
  
• Nucleus Software said Development Credit Bank has selected its retail banking software suite.
  
  
• Sanjivani Paranterals has received an order worth Rs5 crore from the defence ministry.
  
  
• Dynamatics Technologies has signed an agreement with Northrop Grumman to jointly explore business opportunities in the defence sector. The company has also signed another agreement with a foreign company for manufacturing certain defence equipment under license.
  
  
• KEC Infrastructure has sold its property near Mumbai for Rs91.22 crore.
  
  
• Opto Circuits said its European subsidiary has received a key certification for one of its products.
  
  
• IL&FS Investsmart said E-Trade, which just concluded the open offer for 20 per cent stake in the company, would pay interest of Rs3.16 per share as interest for the delay in open offer.
  
  
• i-Flex Solutions said an Austrian bank has selected its core banking software suite for its operations in Hungary.
  
  
• Asian Paints has started commercial production at its new plant in Maharashtra.
  
  
• Revathi Equipment has acquired a 40 per cent stake in a Bangalore based engineering design solutions company for Rs30 crore, with an option to acquire another 11 per cent later.
  
  
• Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar has allotted 2.8 crore convertible warrants to parent company Bajaj Hindusthan at a price of Rs50 per share. The company has also issued 50 lakh equity shares to Bennett, Coleman & Co at a price of Rs50 per share.
  
  
• Television 18 has raised Rs200 crore from a QIP issue
  

*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.