Markets end firm amid volatile trade

The markets ended Wednesday's volatile session on a firm note ahead of the RBI credit policy and Economic Survey on Thursday.

The Sensex ended at 17,919, up 106 points and the Nifty advanced 34 points to 5,464. The markets opened on a strong note tracking positive global cues but later turned volatile post the Railway Budget announcement.

Railway Minister, Dinesh Trivedi while presenting the railway budget announced 75 new express trains to be introduced.

The minister while presenting his maiden budget also hiked fares for the first time since eight years. For AC 3 tier- 10 paise per km, AC 2 tier- 15 paise per km, 2nd class- 3 paise per km, First class AC 30 paise per km; suburban fares up 2 paise per km; Platform ticket up from Rs 3 to Rs 5.

. . .

Railway related stocks ended on a mixed note.

Titagarh Wagons, Stone India, Kernex Microsystems and Kalindee Rail were trading lower by 3-5% while Nelco, Transformer and  Rectifiers (India) Limited (TRIL) and Zicom Electronic Security Systems have rallied more than 5% each after Dinesh Trivedi said that Railways to install security systems at 202 stations.

Banking and capital goods stocks logged in smart gains on hopes that the central bank might cut interest rates in its credit policy which is to be announced on Thursday.

The BSE banking index- Bankex was the top sectoral gainer.

The index ended higher by nearly 2% or 225 points at 12,529 levels. Punjab National Bank was the tiop gainer among the banking stocks, up 6% to Rs 1,035. Yes Bank, Union Bank, Bank of Baroda, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank also jumped nearly 3-5% each in trades on Wednesday.

Capital Goods index also advanced 1.6% or 170 points to 10,777 levels.

PSU, Power, FMCG, Auto, Healthcare and Oil & Gas indices also ended higher in trades on Wednesday.

At the same time, Realty, IT, consumer durables and metal stocks witnessed some amount of sellig pressure.

. . .

The BSE Realty index ended lower by nearly 1% or 18 points at 1,871 levels.

Among the Sensex stocks, NTPC was the top gainer. The stock jumped nearly 3% to Rs 177. ICICI Bank, L&T, ONGC, Tata Motors, Hindalco, Mahindra & Mahindra, Coal India and Tata Power were also among the gainers.

On the other hand, TCS, Wipro, Tata Steel, jindal Steel, Bajaj Auto, DLF, HDFC and reliance Industries were among the prominent losers.

Among the individual stocks, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises surged 8% to Rs 672 on huge volumes after US-based private equity firm Apax Partners has transferred its entire 12.67% equity shares in the company to its group affiliate HSTN Acquisition via market deals worth Rs 1,033 crore in an inter se transfer.

Housing Development & Infrastructure (HDIL) ended lower by 4% at Rs 109 after the company said its promoters have pledge 38.24% equity with IL&FS.  The promoters hold total 39.17% stake in the company.

Patni Computer Systems rallied 6% to Rs 502 in morning trades, after iGate Corporation, the promoter of the company proposed to delist the company's shares from the Indian exchanges and has set the base price of Rs 356.74 a share for delisting the shares.

The broader markets ended on a subdued note.

The BSE mid-cap index ended at 6,495, up 21 points and the small-cap index shed 19 points to close at 6,846 levels.

The overall breadth was neutral as 1,513 stocks declined while 1,405 stocks advanced.