The markets closed the session on a positive note amid volatility since morning and have not reacted much to the weak inflation numbers, which stood at 7.83% versus 7.61%, that was way above market expectations of 7.59%. Banking especially private banks, metal, oil & gas, power and pharma stocks were the contributors. The Sensex closed above 17400 and the Nifty above 5150 mark. The Indian Rupee touched 42.89 per dollar. Midcap and small cap stocks remained positive.

The Sensex finished at 17,434.94, up 81.40 points or 0.47% after hitting an intraday high/low of 17,497.36 and 17,315.52, respectively. The Nifty was up 42.45 points or 0.83% to settle at 5157.70; it has touched a high of 5167.40 and low of 5106.40.

Biggest gainers were Ranbaxy Labs, Reliance Communications, HUL, HDFC Bank, SAIL, PNB, Suzlon Energy and BPCL while losers - HCL Tech, Siemens, HDFC, Infosys, Ambuja Cements and TCS.

Midcap and small cap indices were up 0.70% at 7,129.70 and 0.86% at 8,620.26, respectively. Midcap gainers of the day were Brigade Enterp, Prakash Ind, Bongaigaon Ref, Chambal Fert, Matrix Lab, Monsanto India and Spice Comm, which up 7-12%.

On the weekly basis, the Sensex gained 4% and the Nifty rose 3.5%. Metal Index was the star perfomer, up 9.5% followed by Bankex and IT shot up 5% each. Hindalco, Suzlon, SAIL, Rel Comm and PNB were major gainers, up 19%, 13%, 12%, 12% and 13%, respectively. Amongst midcap space, Chambal Fert went up 21.7%, JSW Steel up 25% and Mercator Lines up 16%.

Inflation for the week ended May 3 was way above market estimates. Food Articles Index rose 0.5%; Fuel, Power Index up 0.8%. Manufactured Products Index went up 0.3%.

Metal index outperformed the market, which shot up by 1.9% or 317.64 points to settle at 17,058.01. SAIL increased by 8% due to strong Q4 and FY08 numbers; SAIL reported Q4 net profit at Rs 2376.8 crore versus Rs 1901.8 crore and net sales of Rs 13550 crore versus Rs 10385 crore. For FY08, the company's net profit stood at Rs 7536.8 crore as against Rs 6202.3 crore and net sales at Rs 39508 crore versus Rs 33923 crore. Amongst metal space, JSW Steel, Guj NRE Coke, Sterlite Ind, Ispat Industrie and NALCO were other movers.

Banking especially private banks have gained. The BSE Bankex was up 1.54% or 135.27 points at 8,941.28 due to buying in PNB, Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Oriental Bank, HDFC Bank, Centurion Bank, SBI and ICICI Bank.

Power stocks continued to lightened, index up 0.89% at 3,332.49 as Suzlon Energy, Tata Power, GMR Infra, Power Grid Corp, Reliance Infra and CESC charged up.

Pharma stocks like Matrix Lab, Lupin, Ranbaxy Labs, Sun Pharma, Cadila Health, Wyeth and Novartis India witnessed good buying interest. The BSE Healthcare Index rose 0.83% to end at 4,321.48.

Oil & Gas including BPCL, Petronet LNG, Cairn India, HPCL, IOC, GAIL and Reliance also surged higher. The BSE Oil & Gas Index closed at 11,289.58 up 0.75%.

Capital Goods stocks like Kirloskar Oil, Suzlon Energy, Astra Microwave, Alfa Laval, Lakshmi Machine, AIA Engineering and L&T moved up. The BSE Capital Goods Index rose 0.71% at 13,696.75.

BSE Auto Index finished higher at 4,757.30, up 0.57% due to buying in Escorts, Bosch, Hind Motors, Punj Tractors, TVS Motor, Tata Motors and Exide Industries.

FMCG stocks like Colgate, Tata Tea, HUL, Britannia, United Spirits, Godrej Consumer and GSK Cons have gained. The BSE FMCG Index jumped 0.55% at 2,508.25.

However, technology stocks remained highly choppy today, Index lost 0.42% at 4,467.55 due to selling in HCL Tech, Infosys, TCS, Patni Computer and Wipro. The Indian Rupee was trading at 42.65 per dollar at the time of writing market report.

Most active counters were Aishwarya Tele, HDIL, SAIL, Reliance and Cairn India on the bourses.

Turnover for the day stood at Rs 57401.84 crore including Rs 13411.2 crore from NSE Cash segment, Rs 37876.68 crore from NSE F&O and Rs 6113.96 crore from BSE Cash segment.

On the global front, Asian markets ended higher barring Nikkei and Shanghai, which closed with modest loss. European markets were trading strong at the time of writing market report.

Markets Snapshot

• Markets end in the green amid volatile trade
• Sensex ends up 81.4 pts at 17435; Nifty up 42.5 pts at 5158
• CNX Midcap Index up 0.8%, BSE Small-cap Index up 0.86%
• BSE Metal Index up 2%; SAIL up 7.5% post results
• BSE Bank Index up 1.8%; PNB up 6.5% on back of good numbers declared yesterday
• Index gainers; BPCL up 5.8%, Suzlon up 5.2%, Cairn India up 4.6%, Tata Power up 3.6%, Ranbaxy up 3.25%
• BSE IT Index down 0.5%; HCL Tech down 2.3%, Infosys down 1.1%
• Result Impact: SAIL, Bongaingaon Refinery
• Buzzers: Assam Co up 10%, Harrisons Malayam up 11.6%, Tamilnadu Petro up 20%, Hyderabd Ind up 20%
• Buzzers; Chambal Fert up 8.5%, Guj NRE Coke up 6%, BOI up 5.7%, Dish TV up 5.5%, Nag Fert up 5.5%
• Losers; Welspun India down 5.3%, Megasoft down 6.2%, BF Utilitiues down 5%
• NSE Advance Decline at 2:1
• Total market turnover at Rs 57402 cr Vs Rs 58476 cr on Thursday
• Total NSE F&O turnover at Rs 37877 cr Vs Rs 38196 cr on Thursday

F&O Snapshot

• Nifty futures discount at 12 pts; add 7.3 lakh shares in OI
• Traders buying 5100 call option and hedging it by shorting Nifty 4900, 5000 witness put wriitng and 5100 witness call writing
• Long positons witness in momentum stcoks like Chambal Fert, Nag Fert, Ispat and stcoks like SAIL, Suzlon
• Sugar stcoks witnmess unwinding of long positons and fresh shorts

Long Positions

• Brigade Ent up 14.5%; add 1.68 lakh shares in OI
• Chambal Fert up 9.5%; add 44.2 lakh shares in OI
• Nag Fert up 5.2%; add 32 lakh shares in OI
• Ispat up 2.3%; add 22.7 lakh shares in OI
• HCC up 3%; add 10.5 lakh shares in OI
• SAIL up 7.8%; add 7.2 lakh shares in OI
• Suzlon up 4.6%; add 6 lakh shares in OI
• HDIL up 4.35; add 4.3 lakh shares in OI

Short Covering

• India Cement up 2%; shed 5.3 lakh shares in OI
• Petronet LNG up 4.7%; shed 3.5 lakh shares in OI
• Aptech up 2%; shed 2.6 lakh shares in OI
• BOI up 5.25%; shed 1.6 lakh shares in OI

Sugar Stocks

• Bajaj Hind down 2.4%; shed 1.6 lakh shares in OI
• Triveni Eng down 2%; shed 2.8 lakh shares in OI
• Shree Renuka down 1.5%; add 12.5 lakh shares in OI

Market This Week

• Sensex up 4%; Nifty up 3.5%
• CNX Midcap Index up 2.5%; BSE Small Cap Index up 1.2%
• BSE Metal Index up 9.5%, BSE IT, Bank Index up 5% each
• BSE Cap Goods Index up 4.2%, BSE Healthcare Index up 4%
• Nifty Gainers: Hindalco up 19%, Suzlon up 13%, SAIL, RComm up 12%, PNB up 13%
• Nifty Gainers: Ranbaxy up 8.3%, Nalco up 19%, Tata Steel up 5.6%, TCS up 6.7%
• Nifty Losers: ONGC down 8%, BPCL down 4.2%, ACC down 4.8%, Bajaj Holdings down 4.6%
• Midcap Gainers: Chambal Fert up 21.7%, JSW Steel up 25%, Mercator Lines up 16%
• Midcap Gainers: Lanco Infra up 15%, NIIT Tech up 10%, Orchid Chem up 10%, BILT up 8.5%

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