Sensex, Nifty begin financial year on a positive note

Commentary

oi-Sunil

By Sunil Fernandes

Updated: Monday, April 1, 2013, 15:34 [IST]

The Sensex and the Nifty began the financial year on a positive note with both the indices ending higher led by strong gains in high beta names including those from the real estate and infrastructure space.

The Nifty ended the day higher by 21 points, while the Sensex ended the day with gains of 8 points (provisional). Leading the list of gainers today was DLF which surged almost 8 per cent in trade. Among the other gainers were Cairn India, Jaiprakash Associates, Reliance Infra, Bharat Heavy Electricals and Larsen and Toubro.

Domestic pharma stocks rallied after the Supreme Court today denied a patent to Swiss giant Novartis AG's cancer treatment Glivec. Among the gainers were Ranbaxy Laboratories, Natco Pharma, Orchid Pharma, Ranbaxy Laboratories and Dr Reddy's.

Shares of Infosys Technologies gained after reports that the company has turned flexible in its pricing policy to gain contracts.

Among the top losers in trade were Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services, Jindal Steel, Sesa Goa, HCL Tech and ONGC.

NMDC which was included in the Nifty from today lost ground on profit taking. Sterlite Industries had a disappointing start to the week after the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board asked the company to shut down its smelter in Tuticorin.

Repco Home Finance made its debut on the bourses and the stock ended the day lower then its offer price of Rs 172.

Realty stocks surged in trade today with IDBI Bank gaining almost 3 per cent, while Syndicate Bank ended the day higher by 3.5 per cent.

Realty stocks also had an excellent day with notable gainers from the space including Anant Raj industries, DB Realty, HDIL and India Bulls.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia ended the day weak with the Hong Kong's Hang Sang, the Japanese Nikkei and the Shanghai Composite ending the day lower.

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