Sensex ends flat; capital goods spikes, oil & gas slips
16 Jan 2012
The benchmarks as well as broader markets closed flat on first day of the week. It was under pressure in the first half of trade due to weak Asian cues, tracking a series of downgrades in Europe by rating agency S&P. Oil & gas sector too weighed down the market. However, the market seemed to have factored in all negatives and it managed to turn positive in the second half, supported by technology, capital goods, auto and metals stocks. Even, European markets were flat after initial sell-off.
The Sensex rose 34.74 points, to close at 16,189.36 and the Nifty went up 7.9 points to 4,873.90 after hitting an intra-day high of 4,880.80 and low of 4,827.05.
Sudarshan Sukhani of s2analytics.com feels the Nifty will probably cross the 5000 mark soon if it holds the 4800. "My target for the Nifty, if this run continues, is about 5071 level," he said.
In the economic data, inflation for the month of December stood at 9.47% as against 9.11% in November. That was on expected lines; CNBC-TV18 poll saw it at 7.41%.
Technology majors Infosys, TCS and Wipro moved up 1.5-2% ahead of TCS' third quarter numbers on Tuesday. Short covering was another reason that led the rally in these stocks.
Capital goods sector topped the buying list; shares of BHEL shot up 3.67% and L&T gained 2.56%.