Markets bounce back

The markets have retraced half of the previous day's losses. It was a steady sesson of trade unlike the mayhem of Wednesday.

And even the characteristic expiry-end volatility failed to disturb the tranquil waters. The Sensex traded in a range of around 100 points before ending at 17503, higher by 103 points and the Nifty ended at 5254, up 38 points.

In yet another rating action, Standard and Poor's slashed its debt rating on Spain. But while the downgrading of Greece and Portugal had its ramifications worldwide, the rating agency's action on Spain had no impact on the interconnected global markets.

Thank the Federal Reserve for that! The Fed's move of leaving the interest rates unchanged led to a minor rally of sorts on the Dow and this is turn drove the positive sentiment back home.

Meanwhile, India's annual food price inflation eased in mid-April. The food price index rose 16.61 per cent in the 12 months to April 17, lower than an annual rise of 17.65 per cent in the previous week.

But the fuel price index rose by an annual 12.69 per cent, marginally higher than the previous week's 12.45 per cent. It may be recalled that the UPA alliance survived the show of strength (cut vote) in Parliament on Wednesday against a hike in the fuel and fertiliser prices.

The government today kicked off its disinvestment programme for the new fiscal year with the initial public offering of state-run Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVNL). It plans to raise Rs 1000 crore by offloading 10% stake in the company.

ICICI Bank strengthened by 2.8% to emerge as the leading gainer on the BSE. Tata Motors added 2.6% at Rs 842 and Tata Power was up 1.8% at Rs 1358.

And index heavyweight RIL added 1.7% at Rs 1034. And the battered realty space made a comeback. The BSE realty sector gained nearly 2%, with Unitech, Parsvnath Developers and Sobha Developers adding upto 5% each.

The previous day's outperformers were clearly out of favour. Hindustan Unilever weakened by 2.3% at Rs 236 and Sun Pharma shed 2.2% at Rs 1585.  TCS and Grasim lost around a per cent at Rs 759 and Rs 2765 respectively.

The midcap and smallcap indices outclassed their largecap counterparts. While the Sensex gained 0.7%, the mid-cap index added 1% and the small-cap space added 1.2%.

In the mid-cap space, Eicher Motors accelerated more than 16%, while Corporation Bank, Jet Airways and Cummins India strengthened between 7% and 9% each.

And in the small-cap space, Cholamandalam DBS Finance, Vishal Information Technologies and Sundaram Clayton spurted more than 16% each.

The market breadth was strong, with the advancing stocks outnumbering the declines in the ratio of 2:1.

SBI topped the value charts on the BSE with a total turnover of Rs 112.66 crore. This was followed by RIL (Rs 91.65 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 67.93 crore), Tata Motors (Rs 64.98 crore) and DLF (Rs 55.60 crore).

DLF led the volume charts with trades of 1.79 million. It was followed by Jaiprakash Associates (1.28 million), Tata Steel (1.07 million), RIL (0.89 million) and Tata Motors (0.77 million).