Sensex corrects 144 points; Reliance slips 2.64 per cent

Helped by strong gains across other global and regional markets, frontline Indian indexes opened higher today. However, they gave up all their gains and slipped into the red by mid-morning. Selling pressure pulled down the indexes further in the afternoon and they gave up a major part of yesterday's gains.

Sensex closed with losses of 144 points at 13934 and the Nifty lost 34 points to end at 4117. Nifty May futures closed at a premium of 3 points to the spot index.

Reliance Industries corrected 2.64 per cent after rallying more than 4 per cent yesterday. The stock came under pressure following a court order restricting gas sales from the KG basin

BPCL was the worst performer among Nifty stocks with losses of 3.35 per cent while IPCL lost 1.47 per cent

HDFC came under pressure and lost 2.74 per cent. ICICI Bank closed 1.62 per cent lower

Among engineering stocks, L&T lost 2.61 per cent and BHEL gave up 1.67 per cent.

Bharti Airtel continued to decline and gave up another 2.28 per cent

Satyam was the worst performer among tech stocks and lost 1.89 per cent

Sun Pharma ended 2.6 per cent lower

Gail India was the best performing Nifty stock, with gains of 4.06 per cent

ONGC remained firm throughout the session and closed a per cent higher

Among aluminum stocks, Hindalco added 1.71 per cent and Nalco closed 0.71 per cent higher

Cement stocks opened firm following the government decision to change the additional excise duty to an ad valorem duty. They gave up most of their gains and only ACC managed to close 0.84 per cent higher

MTNL remained firm and added 1.23 per cent

Cipla was firm for the whole session and ended 2.91 per cent higher

Bajaj Auto, SBI and Siemens were the other gainers among Nifty stocks

Colgate Palmolive surged more than 10 per cent after the announcement of a capital restructuring plan

Global markets / crude oil
Encouraging economic data helped the US markets to sustain the up trend yesterday. Unemployment declined while labor productivity for the first quarter improved. Subdued oil prices continued to support the positive sentiment.

The Dow gained more than 0.2 per cent while the S&P 500 index crossed 1500 for the first time since 2000 and settled nearly 0.45 per cent higher. Technology stocks also sustained the momentum and the NASDAQ index closed 0.3 per cent higher.

Asian markets sustained their up trend today as well. Malaysia was the best performer with gains of nearly 1.55 per cent while Singapore gained more than a per cent. Thailand gained over 0.9 per cent while Hong Kong ended more than 0.75 per cent higher.

South Korea added 0.5 per cent while Indonesia gained nearly 0.4 per cent.

European markets were mostly firm in early trading and have gained further. Major European indexes are trading with gains of between 0.3 per cent and 0.8 per cent each in afternoon trading.

Crude oil prices continued to decline yesterday and near month NYMEX futures ended 49 cents lower at $63.19 per barrel. The commodity is unchanged from yesterday's close in European trading today.

Mid-Cap Action
Mid-caps and small caps were firm in morning trading, but gave up their gains in the afternoon. The CNX Mid-cap index gained 10 points, or 0.18 per cent, to end at 5348. The BSE mid-cap index lost 0.05 per cent and the BSE small cap index closed 0.32 per cent lower.

Media and entertainment stocks sustained their strong rally today as well. Cinevsistas closed at 20 per cent upper circuit for the second day while Network 18 closed at 10 per cent upper circuit. GBN also closed at 10 per cent upper circuit while Cinemax rallied well over 9.5 per cent.

FCS Software closed at 20 per cent upper circuit while Kinetic Motor and Goldstone Technologies closed at 10 per cent upper circuits

IndiaBulls Financial saw a strong rally and closed 12.98 per cent higher

UFlex was locked in 10 per cent down circuit today as well

K Sera Sera, Uniphos, DCB, Gujarat Alkalies, Shoppers Stop, Atlanta, Today's Writing, Atlanta, Visa Steel and Teledata were the other major losers among mid-cap and small-cap stocks

Thomas White Global Research, part of the Thomas White International Group, publishes capital market research for global institutions and investment banks.

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