(RTTNews) - After trading sharply lower until mid-afternoon, the market saw a ‘V’ shaped recovery in late trading to close near the day’s high. Aggressive push by the government for disinvestment in public sector units helped improve sentiment.

Home Minister P Chidambaram said today that all listed state-run firms will now be eligible for further divestment to meet a mandatory 10% public holding.

In a major push to the reforms process, the government further said that proceeds from the divestment of equity in public sector undertakings can be directly used for capital expenditure on social sector programs, instead of routing it through the National Investment Fund.

All unlisted, but profitable state-run enterprises having a positive networth must be quoted and traded on the stock exchanges, the government said. Separately, the government said that it will hereafter release the WPI inflation rate on a monthly basis.

The BSE Sensex fell to as low as 15,565 in the afternoon before reversing its loss to close at 16,064, up 152 points or 0.95%. Likewise, the S&P CNX Nifty rose 55 points or 1.16% to 4,766, the BSE mid-cap index moved up 2.02% and the small-cap index by 1.82%.

The market breadth on the BSE was extremely positive, with 1827 gainers versus 841 decliners. Sector-wise, telecom, metal, realty, power and auto stocks led the gainers.

Among individual stocks, Reliance Infrastructure and Hindalco rallied over 5% each. Telecom stocks Reliance Communication and Bharti Airtel also advanced by nearly 5% each amid reports the Department of Telecom plans to cut the annual licence fee by up to a third for the country’s top telecom operators.

Mahindra & Mahindra(up 3.56%), Tata Steel(up 3.28%), BHEL(up 2.47%), Hero Honda Motors(up 2.31%), Jaiprakash Associates(up 2.26%) and Sterlite Industries(up 2.16%) were the other prominent gainers.

However, SBI, ITC, ACC, Infosys, TCS, Larsen & Toubro and NTPC ended in the red.

Punjab National Bank rose 1.54% on reports it has extended low-rate home and car loans till end-December. Heidelbergcement India advanced 3.84% on announcing expansion plans. Ashok Leyland rallied over 4% on reporting higher October output and sales.

Reliance Industries rose by a percent and RNRL added 3.74% after the apex court resumed its hearing on the Ambani’s gas dispute afresh after a judge Justice R V Raveendran withdrew from an earlier hearing citing a potential conflict of interest.

Hindusthan National Glass & Industries soared around 5% after the company fixed 13 Nov as the record date for a 5-for-1 stock split. Suzlon Energy, which shed nearly 40% in recent sessions following disappointing earnings, climbed over 13%.

GVK Power and Infrastructure fell nearly 2% after its arm GVK Airport Developers bought a 12% stake in Bangalore International Airport for Rs.4.85 billion.

Elsewhere, most Asian stock markets drifted lower on Thursday on growing concerns about the nascent global economic recovery. Investors trod a cautious path ahead of the release of key data on U.S. jobs.

With U.S stocks failing to sustain an early upmove overnight, European stocks dropped in early trading Thursday, dragged down by banks and miners. Lack of positive surprises from the U.S. Federal Reserve and caution ahead of rate decisions by the Bank of England and the European Central Bank also triggered some profit taking following sharp gains in the previous session. The Dow futures are now trading down by 15 points.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

Copyright(c) 2009 RTTNews.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Posted in Categories: Eurozone, Releases, Stocks, UK, USA.

Subscribe by RSS Subscribe by Email