 "Bargain hunting keeps market ticking; auto & realty gain")
• Market has been trading in a very small band since the opening bell. Weak Asianmarket has further dampened the sentiment. The BSE 30-share Sensex was flat at 18481.79, up by 12 points.
[caption id=“attachment_4442” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Choppy trade. Reuters”]
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• Market edged higher after a weak opening. It pared gains after hitting fresh intraday highs in morning trade. It is currently trading near the low of the day.
• The market breadth, indicating the health of the market, was just about strong. On BSE, 1276 shares advanced while 885 shares declined. A total of 94 shares remained unchanged.
• Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 13 gained while rest of them declined. Reliance Infra was the top loser with a fall of 2.94%. Bharti Airtel, which announced a poor set of numbers, was also down by -1.04 at Rs 366.40 up from its low of the day of Rs 352. Hero Honda was the top gainer, up by 4.17%.
• Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 1.16% onreportsthat the company is planning to become a world leader in the rubber business and plans toinvest$12 billion in the chemicals business to tap the rapidly growing market for hygiene and healthcare products in India.
• Interest rate sensitive realtystocksedged higher on bargain hunting after the recent losses after RBI hiked key short term rates to tame stubbornly high inflation. Interest rate sensitive auto shares also edged higher on bargain hunting after recent losses.
• Singer India jumped 7.39% after the company reported a net profit of Rs 2.14 crore in Q3 March 2011 compared to a net loss of Rs 0.21 crore in Q3 March 2010.
• On the macro front, the government will unveil data on some wholesale price indices for the year through 23 April 2011 viz. the food price index, the primary articles index and the fuel price index at about 12 pm.
• According to a report by UBS, auto companies, especially Bajaj Auto and TVS will be affected by the government’s decision to withdraw Duty entitlement and Passbook scheme (DEPB) benefits for exports. UBS says Bajaj Auto will be affected by 12% in FY12 and TVS will have its earning pruned down by 29%.