Sensex recovers on IT stocks but still posts fifth weekly loss

4:00 pm BSE Sensex closes about 1 percent higher today in low volumes, recovering from yesterday’s steep losses. The BSE Sensex ended at 17,375.65 points, while the 50-share Nifty index added 0.95 percent to 5,278.20 points.

Technology stocks like Infosys led the rally after global rival Accenture raised its profit outlook for the year.HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank are also top contributors to the Sensex’s upmove this afternoon.Among other gainers are Hero MOtoCorp, Gail and BHEL. Metal shares weakened on global cues as metal prices declined in the London Metal Exchange. Jindal Steel shed 1%, followed by Hindalco and Sterlite. However, Tata Steel has gained 1% at Rs 455.

The news of coal blocks allocation scam combined with dismal manufacturing data from Europe and China gave rise to fears of recession in global markets yet again. Spiraling crude prices will aggravate the matter even further.

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Market gains on Goldman upgrade; banks, IT rally

3 pm Sensex edges higher after Goldman Sachs upgraded Indian stocks to marketweight citing expectations of some pick-up in the domestic economy and lower risks from the euro area debt crisis. BSE Sensex is trading near 17,450 while the NSE Nifty touches5,300. Consumer Durables,Bankex, Realty, PSU, Oil and Gas,FMCG, IT indices are the gainers.

HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, PNB, SBI and Axis Bank from Banking counter was seen trading firm in green pulling the markets higher. TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL Technologies from IT pack were trading in green pushing the markets higher post Accenture’s strong results.

The European markets opened flat but were trading in green with, France’s CAC 40 added 0.47%, Germany’s DAX ascended 0.44% while Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.40

GAIL gains on plan to transport natural gas to Pak

1:pmThe BSE Sensex is holding steady at 17,257, up 61 points over the previous close, while the Nifty trades flat above 5200.Lack of retail participation on account of Gudi Padwa holiday has taken care of the volatility.

Meanwhile, MTNL has added 40,000 new mobile subscribers in February. Following the said addition, the company’s total subscriber count stood at 55.30 lakh users with a market share of 0.84%. Reacting to this, the stock moved higher by 1 percent at Rs 29.55

The European markets will open in sometime. The Nifty will take cues from the European markets opening bell.

State-owned **GAIL’**s just-commissioned natural gas pipeline from the West coast to Bhatinda in Punjab is likely to be extended to Lahore after reports on India offering export of natural gas to Pakistan, to help the country tide over its gas crisis. The company’s gas pipeline is barely 25 kilometres away from the Pakistan border.The stock is up 1 percent

Essar Shipping zooms over 6 percent as it has bagged a $121-million contract to drill offshore wells in Indonesia. It will drill 11 offshore wells for the US-based ConocoPhillips. The company is going to mobilize the contract with Essar Shipping’s semi-submersible offshore drilling unit, Essar Wildcat.

RIL back in the game, Godrej Prop first to complete IPP

11:30 am Reliance Industries rose 1% at Rs 743.10 on BSE on report the government has approved the company’s plan to produce over 10 million standard cubic meters per day of gas from four satellite fields in the KG-D6 block.

Godrej Properties becomes first company to complete IPP. The Issue comprised of 7.44 million shares with a greenshoe option of 0.74 million shares aggregating to 8.19 million shares.

Infosys too inches up 0.85 percent to Rs. 2,850.90 after the company said ING Belgium has selected Infosys’ Finacle universal banking solution for core banking transformation.

Sensex seems to have overcome the previous session’s big losses that were triggered by a spate of bad news. However, things have not been all that smooth with the main indices suddenly slipping from day’s high into the negative zone in mid-morning trade before recovering. BSE Sensex is at 17,249, up 53 points over the previous close.

Manesar trouble resurfaces, Maruti down 2 percent

10 am Maruti Suzuki India falls 1.72 percent at Rs 1,308 on BSE on report the newly-formed workers’ union at its Manesar plant is demanding higher wages. Maruti has been struggling to bounce back after the prolonged labour unrest last year. Labour unrest at Maruti’s plants in north India during September and October 2011 had dented the company’s market share and damaged its sales.

Muthoot, Mannapuram recover, ADAG stocks pull back

9:30 am After yesterday’s bloodbath on Dalal Street where the Sensex fell around 406 points, an overreaction to the CAG report on the loss of revenue over the sale of coalfields and the rail fare rollback, markets today attempted at a pullback, with the Sensex up 80 points, while Nifty opened at around 5250, up 25 points. Even though the gap is not very big, the markets are showing some amount of stability in early trade today.

There is some pull back in the bank nifty, Tata Motors and metal stocks. Jaiprakash Associates, Sesa Goa, SAIL, Reliance Power and Reliance Infra were leading the recovery. Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, Hero Motocorp, Sun Pharma and Cipla were bleeding in red.

Even ADAG stocks that were hammered yesterday after CAG report on coal auctions, have recovered slightly and are trading higher today.RPower is up 1.6 percent today, while RCOM has gained 1 percent at Rs 89.

Jindal Steel and Power and NTPC, which were named the biggest beneficiaries of the coal scam were the biggest losers in the market yesterday. However, the two stocks are regain some ground and are up 0.5 percent this morning.

Gold loan companies like Muthoot Finance and Manappuram have seen some relief today after hiting a 52-week low yesterday on new RBI norms. While Muthooth is up around 3 percent today, Manappuram has gained 1.5 percent this morning.

SKS Microfinance, which has managed to raise some more money through securitiasation, is up 2.5 percent today.

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It is day two of the NBCC IPO. The overall subscription at the end of day one is at 0.2 times or 22.6 lakh shares. The QIB portion was subscribed 0.3 times while retail saw 0.1 time subscription.

Real estate developer Godrej Properties ‘stock offering to raise up to $90 million received bids for 18 percent more than the shares on offer, boosting the outlook for a newly approved process that companies can tap to cut founder stakes. The stock is up 1.5 percent today.

CAG sources say final CAG report on coal block allocation will be out in a month. CAG’s 3-page letter blames the leak on the coal ministry and has sought an investigation of leakage of draft report which were shared with coal ministry officials. Since the report is not final yet, loss quantification can change. Meanwhile, Coal Minister says there is no scam in award of blocks, only politics being played.

Aviation minister, Ajit Singh says that the ministry is still looking at the financial viability of the Kingfisher Airlines . Since the airline’s licence cannot be cancelled till it is operating five daily flights, the stock has seen some momentum today and is up 2 percent at Rs 18.55

Unitech has sought $150 milion to exit telecom JV.