Volatile market closes flat, HUL brightens a dull day

Shishir Asthana • December 20, 2014, 13:25:30 IST

Hindustan Unilever made hay on Monday while the automobile sector had nothing to be happy about

Volatile market closes flat, HUL brightens a dull day

After a roller coaster day the market closed slightly higher supported by a strong move by Hindustan Unilever and Bharti Airtel. The BSE Sensex closed the day at 18,528.96 higher by 10 points, while the NSE Nifty remained unchanged at 5551.10, down 0.35 points. The days’ volume were much lower than the average.

**Listen to Santosh Nair, editor, Moneycontrol.com on markets today**

Hindustan Unilever, announced their results during the second session. The company posted a net profit of Rs 569.11 crore as compared to Rs 582.11 crore, this was due to a higher extra-ordinary items charge in the previous quarter (Rs 52.11 crore). Profit before tax and extraordinary items were higher at Rs 730.43 crore compared to Rs 716.85 crore. The stock closed the day near the high at Rs 288.40 crore, up by 4.5%.

Bharti Airtel was the other stock that did well, rising by 4.52% to close the day at Rs 366.80. Bharti had fallen from Rs 390 to Rs 345 over the last week, before short covering and value buying helped the stock close at Rs 366.80.

Market was again in the grip of interest rate fears with both the automobile sector and banking stocks falling. Maruti, Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors were among the top losers in the index, while banking stocks led by PNB (down 2.07%), Axis Bank (down 1.91%) and HDFC Bank (Down 1.28%).

Market’s breadth was negative with 1,284 advances and 1,512 declines.

Among the sectors, Fast Moving Capital Goods (FMCG) was the top gainer while automobile sector came down by 1.29%.

Eicher Motors saw a smart move with the stock closing the day over 13% higher at Rs 1,301.75 against Rs 1,150. The company posted a sales figure of Rs 149.59 crore as compared to rs 99.40 crore for the quarter ended March 2011. Net profit shot up from Rs 9.23 crore to Rs 14.48 crore.

Amrutanjan Health Care increased by 11% to Rs 788 on news of the company announcing a buy back till Rs 900.

Coal India touched a new all-time high on good institution support. The stock closed the day at Rs 391.85, higher by 5.98%.

SKS Microfinance continued its fall, with Credit Suisse also downgrading the stock after JP Moran did on Friday. The stock closed at a new low of Rs 269.90, down by 18.75% on all time high volume of 55.18 lakh shares.