Mkts trade higher; oil, power, cap goods stks gain

The markets are trading higher with buying support from oil, power, realty, technology, FMCG and capital goods stocks. Market breadth is negative, about 1034 shares have advanced, 1933 shares declined, and 88 shares are unchanged. Midcaps are almost flat. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed.

At 10:31 am, the Sensex was up 103 points at 14,912 and the Nifty up 43 points at 4,546.

Markets open lower mirroring weak global cues

The markets have opened lower following weak cues across the globe and selling pressure in banking, power, oil and capital goods stocks but turned volatile in morning trade.

At 9:56 am, the Sensex was down 83 points at 14725 and the Nifty down 26 points at 4476.

ICICI Bank, Reliance Energy, Tata Power, HDFC Bank, Tata Comm, HDFC, Satyam, L&T, Reliance Ind and SBI were major losers.

Asian markets were trading lower barring Nikkei. Shanghai Composite fell 1.79% or 68.21 points at 3,751.84. Hang Seng was down 2.37% or 499.75 points at 20,584.86. Jakarta Composite plunged 2.22% or 51.44 points at 2,260.88.

Straits Times was down 0.82% or 23.01 points at 2,769.74. Seoul Composite went down 3.74 points or 0.24% at 1,570.70. Taiwan Weighted fell 0.07% or 5.56 points at 7,999.90.

However, Japan's Nikkei was up 0.79% or 93.66 points at 11,881.17.

Wall Street did start off on a nervous note but markets recovered some ground in afternoon trade and the Dow finished with a small gain. Investors rewarded JP Morgan for its weekend move on Bear Stearns. But punished other banks on conerns that they might be over valued.

The Dow gained 21.16 points, or 0.18%, to 11,972.25. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 11.54 points, or 0.90%, to 1,276.60. The Nasdaq composite index declined 35.48 points, or 1.60%, to 2,177.01.

Market cues:

FIIs net sell $31.9 m in equity on Mar 14
NSE F&O Open Int down Rs 2909 cr at Rs 64335 cr
F&O cues:

Futures Open Int down by Rs 3,530 crore, Options Open Int up by Rs 621 cr
Nifty Futures shed 11 lakh shares in Open Int; at 4-point discount
Stock Futures shed 2.5 cr shares in Open Int
Nifty Open Int PCR at 0.85 vs 0.92
Nifty Puts Open Int unchanged, Calls add 12.3 lakh shares in Open Int
Nifty 4400 Put adds 3.4 lakh shares in Open Int
Nifty 4600 Put sheds 4 lakh shares in Open Int
Nifty 4350 Put adds 2.6 lakh shares in Open Int
Nifty 4700 Put sheds 2.4 lakh shares in Open Int
Nifty 4500 Call adds 3.7 lakh shares in Open Int
Nifty 4700 Call adds 2.2 lakh shares in Open Int
Nifty 4600 Call adds 2 lakh shares in Open Int

Source : MoneyControl