Share Market Terms

2:00 pm Asian Markets: Japanese stocks rose to a three-week high , helped by gains in construction equipment makers on news China is taking steps to stimulate its economy, and as the dollar hit a 10-week high to the yen after solid US economic data. The Nikkei ended 0.8 percent higher to 15,071.88 points, the highest close since March 11. The broader Topix rose 0.5 percent to 1,216.77.
The JPX-Nikkei Index 400, a gauge comprised of companies with a high return on equity and robust corporate governance, added 0.6 percent to 11,029.28.
1:50 pm Interview: Debunking the myth that weak monsoons lone can be responsible for affecting the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) growth in the rural areas, Sunil Duggal, CEO, Dabur said the rural demand has been lower over the last two quarters. According to him, the correlation between rural income and monsoon is very direct. But the same with consumer demand is not always true. "We cannot be completely insulted from the impact of a bad monsoon. But it doesn’t alter the dynamics of consumption to a very great degree. Likewise a great monsoon also doesn’t accelerate demand, there are host of other conditions required to stimulate or depress demand," he added.
1:40 pm In focus: Shares of Unitech are attracting buyers after the company said it has been approached by a third party for its stake in Candor Investment- the IT parks. The stock gained as much as 6.5 percent intraday. Meanwhile, sources told CNBC-TV18 that real estate major Unitech and Unitech Corporate Parks (UCP) will sell six India assets for up to Rs 12,500 crore. It is learnt that the company will raise Rs 4,000-5,000 crore from milestone payments over three years. Unitech and UCP have signed exclusivity with a potential buyer and they will exit IT park portfolio of 16 million square feet, sources say.
1:30 pm Market outlook: Nirmal Jain, chairman, IIFL recommends long-term investors to hold on to their equity investments now. “Most foreign investors remain bullish on India and if nothing catastrophic happens then we can see a sustained bull market,” he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview. Market participants should adopt a bottom-up approach, but must not leverage given that election is a high risk event. “If the election outcome is not as per expectations then it will have a huge impact,” he cautioned. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India granted in-principle nod for the much-awaited bank licence to IDFC and Bandhan Financial Services on Wednesday. “This is positive start. They want the banking sector to open up,” Jain said. 1:20 pm Buzzing: Shares of Siti Cable Network rallied as much as 5.5 percent intraday after the company said promoters raised stake in the company to 72.82 percent, up from 63.08 percent as of December 2013.
The cable television service provider in its filing to the exchange said the promoters have invested additional Rs 243 crore in the business to support the aggressive growth plan to grow subscriber base to 10 million in FY14-15. "As per the approval received from Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in March 2013 to raise Rs 324 crore from promoter entities, the company has already received first tranche Rs 81 crore in March 2013 and this is balance tranche fund of Rs 243 crore.
With this total promoter shareholding rises to 72.82 percent," the company elaborated. Don't miss: Bank licence regrets: L&T Fin, Muthoot, JM Fin tank 9-14% The market continued to remain under pressure as the Sensex is down 107.10 points at 22444.39, and the Nifty is down 33.45 points at 6719.10. About 1122 shares have advanced, 1380 shares declined, and 124 shares are unchanged. Banking, capital goods and oil & gas stocks are dragging the indices. 
BHEL loses 3 percent, followed by Coal India, SBI and L&T. The MCX board is likely to meet today to consider preferential allotment. Sources indicate that some private equity investors may join the board. Earlier, Financial Technologies was asked by FMC to reduce its stake in MCX to 2 percent from 26 percent.
The Aam Aadmi Party is likely to release its national manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections today. The manifesto will spell out party's stand over different issues including the party's agriculture, economic and foreign policy. Issues like gas price may also find place in the manifesto.

Country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) reported a 5.5 percent decline in total sales in March at 1,13,350 units as against 1,19,937 units in the same month last year. The company said its domestic sales declined  by 5.2 percent during the month to 1,02,269 units as against 1,07,890 units in March 2013. Sales of mini segment cars, including M800, Alto, A-Star and WagonR, declined by 11 percent to 40,085 units as compared to 45,047 units in the year-ago month, MSI said in a statement.
The company said sales of the compact segment comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz rose by 9.3 percent to 28,285 units in March this year as against 25,868 units last year, reports PTI. 12:50pm HSBC's India manufacturing PMI down in March HSBC's India manufacturing PMI declined in March at 51.3 versus 52.5 in February, but remained above the waterline, indicating positive growth. "Growth in the manufacturing sector eased on the back of weaker growth in output and a slowdown in order flows from domestic clients.
By goods, consumer goods firmed, but the production of investment goods remains subdued according to panellists. Looking ahead, the recovery is likely to prove protracted. Meanwhile, inflation eased in March, with the PMI index for input and output prices falling," the HSBC report said.
12:45pm Expert on RBI policy Kunal Shah, fund manager-debt, Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance said, "RBI has maintained status quo as per our and consensus expectations, though not clearly spelled out in policy but RBI is incrementally concerned about sticky growth underperformance." According to him, RBI has hinted that lead indicators do not point to any sustained revival in industry or services & hence believes that slower activity will help disinflate the economy which will support the fight against inflation. "Till these processes evolve RBI feels current policy rates are appropriate and may not require further tightening," he added. "We expect current disinflation process to continue and core inflation to moderate further however sharp fall is unlikely in short-term. Monsoon will be key to watch as it can create short-term volatility in inflation path," Shah said.
12:40pm Rate hike unlikely if inflation does not rise further The Reserve Bank’s policy stance will be firmly focussed on keeping the economy on a disinflationary glide path that is intended to hit 8 per cent CPI inflation by January 2015 and 6 per cent by January 2016, the central bank said. It further said that at the current juncture, it is appropriate to hold the policy rate, while allowing the rate increases undertaken during September 2013-January 2014 to work their way through the economy. Furthermore, if inflation continues along the intended glide path, further policy tightening in the near term is not anticipated at this juncture, the RBI said.
12:35pm RBI says Since December 2013, the sharper than expected disinflation in vegetable prices has enabled a sizable fall in headline inflation. Looking ahead, vegetable prices have entered their seasonal trough and further softening is unlikely. Meanwhile, CPI inflation excluding food and fuel has remained flat. There are risks to the central forecast of 8 percent CPI inflation by January 2015 stemming from a less-than-normal monsoon due to possible el nino effects; uncertainty on the setting of minimum support prices for agricultural commodities and the setting of other administered prices, especially of fuel, fertiliser and electricity; the outlook for fiscal policy; geo-political developments and their impact on international commodity prices. 12:30pm Market falls further, banks extend losses Equity benchmarks extended losses in afternoon trade weighed down by banking and financial stocks.
The Sensex is down 81.76 points to 22304.51 and the Nifty down 20.25 points to 6683.95. India's biggest lender State Bank of India plunged 2 percent while rival HDFC Bank slipped 1.9 percent. Top private sector lender ICICI Bank and housing finance company HDFC dropped over a percent. Shares of L&T, ITC, HUL, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, BHEL and Coal India declined over 1 percent.

However, TCS held its early gains, up 2 percent followed by Wipro and ONGC with more than 1.5 percent. Infosys and Tata Motors climbed over 0.5 percent. 12:25pm RBI says Retail inflation measured by the consumer price index (CPI) moderated for the third month in succession in February 2014, driven lower by the sharp disinflation in food prices, although prices of fruits, milk and products have started to firm up. Excluding food and fuel, however, retail inflation remained sticky at around 8 percent. This suggests that some demand pressures are still at play.
12:20pm RBI increases the liquidity provided under 7-day and 14-day term repos from 0.5 percent of net demand and time liability (NDTL) of the banking system to 0.75 percent. It decreases the liquidity provided under overnight repos under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) from 0.5 percent of bank-wise NDTL to 0.25 percent with immediate effect.
12:15pm Rajan says the bank may need to push foreign banks to follow subsidiary model. Foreign banks avoid subsidiary route on priority sector norm, he adds.
12:10pm While addressing press conference after an announcement of bi-monthly review, RBI governor Raghuram Rajan said the bank had responded to Election Commission queries on banking licences. "We took Election Commission (EC) opinion on banking licences to stay away from controversy. Bimal Jalan had also suggested getting EC nod for banking licences," Rajan said. He further said the window for differentiated banking licences would be opened soon. 12:05pm Reserve Bank of India kept repo rate, at which banks borrow money from RBI, unchanged at 8 percent and cash reserve ratio at 4 percent. The central bank also left marginal standing facility rate and bank rate unchanged at 9 percent.
12:00pm The market remains volatile after the Reserve Bank of India kept policy rates unchanged that is in-line with expectations. The Sensex slips 15.12 points to 22371.15 and the Nifty declines 4.75 points to 6699.45. About 1174 shares have advanced, 1042 shares declined, and 131 shares are unchanged.   Top lenders State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank decline 0.5-0.8 percent. Housing finance company HDFC slips 0.66 percent. State-run power equipment maker BHEL drops 1.7 percent, and engineering and construction major L&T is down 1.3 percent.

Media plays an important role in helping political parties interact with voters and most of the parties are now using the print media, television, radio and other social networks like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp to convey their messages to their prospective voters.
It is true that this would translate into huge revenue growth for the media industry at large. Also, it is expected that the formation of a stable government at the Centre post-election would result in a series of reforms to boost the economy and this would further enhance the revenue growth prospects of the industry. 
However, the sluggish economic growth and a decrease in consumer spending have strained advertisers, leading them to cut promotional budgets. This has adversely affected the media industry. 
As the election is around the corner, media stocks have become attractive to investors and some of the media stocks have witnessed smart gains since the Election Commission (EC) announced the schedule for the general election on March 5, 2014.
Also, the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies are raising their advertising expenditure, which is expected to further boost the performance of the media companies.
Almost 75 per cent of television advertising is concentrated over just three categories -- FMCG, telecom and auto -- while FMCG continues to dominate television advertising. 

Nandan Chakraborty, MD, Institutional Equity Research, Axis Capital recommends investors to have a judicious mix of defensives and cyclicals in their portfolios now.
Sharing views on the current market rally, Chakraborty told CNBC-TV18 that in upmoves, consumer discretionary and BFSI stocks rise first. He expects 15 percent growth in Sensex levels by year-end. He sees big upside in select engineering and infrastructure  stocks.
Also, certain pockets of banking stocks may see large upmove going ahead. From the PSU banking pack, he is positive on  SBI  and PNB  . One can bet on auto ancillary stocks like  Motherson Sumi  in the midcap auto space, he added.
 Further, he added that earnings upgrade is seen only for companies with improvement in balance sheet, he said. Meanwhile, he expects further appreciation in the Indian currency.

Today the global scenario looks favourable, which may result in positive opening of the Indian markets. SGX Nifty is also trading 31.00 points higher.
Global Market
Asian shares raced to two-week highs on Wednesday, with investor confidence getting a much needed boost from upbeat U.S. data and lingering hopes China may take steps to stimulate its sagging economy.
US stocks Tuesday finished a choppy trading session higher, boosted by stronger-than-expected consumer confidence data. The main indexes recorded small gains after two days of losses.
European shares rebounded on Tuesday, anticipating of stimulus measures from the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Chinese central bank to help their economies fight off any slowdown.
Levels to watch out:
Supports @ 6570 - 6540 - 6510
Resistance @ 6600 - 6650 - 6680

MCX | Financial Technologies | Arshiya International | ONGC | ACC | Tech Mahindra | United Spirits | Dabur India | PNB | Tata Power | Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services | Bharti Infratel | Mindtree and Axis Bank are stocks, which are in the news today.

NEW DELHI: Indian markets are expected to trade higher on Saturday in absence of any major global cues. The key support for the index is around 6,430 levels.
"The Nifty is expected to trend up till 6575 in the next couple of days. In this period the key support will be at 6430 and resistance will be at 6575," said Somil Mehta, Senior Tech Analyst (Equity) at Sharekhan
"The Nifty has been forming higher tops and higher bottoms; it has also closed above the previous swing's high which is a positive sign for the market," he added.
Mehta is of the view that the short-term bias remains positive for a target of 6600 with reversal at 6430. The medium-term outlook remains positive as the index has started forming higher tops and higher bottoms on the weekly charts

Here is a list of ten stocks which are likely to be in focus in trade Today .. 

UMBAI/NEW DELHI: The government on Friday raised as much as $1.4 billion through share sales, in a push to shore up state finances before it heads into a tough parliamentary election next month

As a result, New Delhi managed to exceed its sharply-lowered budget target to raise as much as $3.1 billion via stake sales in some private as well as state companies in the fiscal year to March 31, after years of falling short.
Some analysts hope the new government, taking office in May, will speed divestments to bolster revenue generation and trim the budget deficit, as part of efforts to revive slowing economic growth.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had penciled nearly $9 billion in divestment revenues into his budget for this fiscal year, but slashed that figure last month to $3.1 billion.

He also set an ambitious target of raising $8.5 billion from further share sales in the next fiscal year, but this estimate could be revised by a possible successor after the election.

"With the next government in place, one would only expect better fortunes from stake sales," said N.R. Bhanumurthy, an economist at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy think tank.

 "A recovery in growth sentiment in the market should help sell stakes quite early in the next fiscal year to meet the target."

EW DELHI: All eyes are set on the coming general elections; and ahead of the watershed event the Indian markets are trading near their all-time highs, getting support from strong inflows from foreign institutional investors who are almost certain of a Narendra Modi-led NDA government after the general elections.
The basis of this 'certainty' is thanks to the opinion polls which are overwhelmingly predicting a BJP-led government at the Centre.
In this scenario, what should investors do ahead of the main event? Which stocks to buy and which sectors to choose from?
According to analysts, investors should focus on cyclical, banks and infrastructure, and probably shed weight on defensives such as IT and pharma.
"... it looks like that there is going to be a decisive government post May 16 and if that is your bet it makes sense to approach this market with an 'in the money' strategy," said Nilesh Shah, MD & CEO, Envision Capital.
"Investors may want to leave some ammunition for areas like technology, pharmaceuticals and dollar sensitives, where a correction has started," he said.
Shah is of the view that the sectors (IT & pharma) might get weaker before the guidance season; but barring that the rest of the pack, by and large, looks reasonably stable.

Unlike a mean-reversal rally where investors jump on to stocks that fell the most in the prior period, the recent rally has focused on sectors benefiting from a revival in large-scale infrastructure investment.

"With the sectors that had outperformed thus far, i.e. IT, healthcare and staples, remaining unchanged, the Indian market has been among the best performing in the past month," Credit Suisse said in a report.

Results of opinion polls have successively predicted a stronger victory for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, and predict 230+ seats for the alliance.

However, the global investment bank finds the opinion polls an unreliable indicator of the upcoming election result.

Here are experts’ equity calls for the day on how the market is expected to trade:

Ridham Desai, Morgan Stanley: Market is prepping for a macro trade as evident in low stock correlations and high relative volatility. The implied volatility levels are low and given relative valuations, the direction of this macro trade could be down. We are overweight on technology, telecom, consumer discretionary and energy. We remain underweight on banks, industrials, consumer staples and utilities.

Sanjeev Prasad, Kotak Institutional Equities: The reward-risk balance for the Indian stock market is less favourable after the sharp run-up in prices of several domestic cyclical and PSU stocks. Current stock prices already discount FY15 EPS for most large-cap stocks. Earnings upgrades will largely depend on favourable government action in a few sectors, which depend on favourable election outcome and continuation of reforms

NEW DELHI:
The S&P BSE Sensex snapped three-day winning streak and is trading lower in trade on Thursday, led by losses in ITCBSE -1.81 %, L&T, HDFCBSE -1.73 % and ICICI BankBSE -0.75 %.

Tracking the momentum, the 50-share Nifty index was trading near its key support levels of 6500, led by losses in FMCG, auto, oil & gas and auto stocks.

At 11:50 a.m.; the 30-share index was at 21,825.74, down 7.8 points or 0.04 per cent. It touched a high of 21,853.25 and a lo ..

Sun Pharma Ltd is a 'BUY' call with a target of Rs 610 and a stop loss of Rs 585

Aurobindo Pharma LtdBSE 1.02 % is a 'BUY' call with a target of Rs 545 and a stop loss of Rs 520

Bank of BarodaBSE -3.07 % is a 'SELL' call with a target of Rs 625 and a stop loss of Rs 655

BHELBSE -2.50 % is a 'SELL' call with a target of Rs 178 and a stop loss of Rs 191
Titan Company Ltd is a 'BUY' call with a target of Rs 275 and a stop loss of Rs 250

HULBSE 1.73 % is a 'BUY' call with a target of Rs 587 and a stop loss of Rs 560

Tata Communications LtdBSE 1.70 % is a 'BUY' call with a target of Rs 309 and a stop loss of Rs 285

Karnataka BankBSE 0.78 % is a 'BUY' call with a target of Rs 118 and a stop loss of Rs 108.75

HUL is a 'BUY' call with a target of Rs 590 and a stop loss of Rs 561

Lupin LtdBSE 0.85 % is a 'BUY' call with a target of Rs 980 and a stop loss of Rs 938

Tata Communications Ltd is a 'BUY' call with a target of Rs 305 and a stop loss of Rs 288

IDBI BankBSE -1.18 % Ltd is a 'BUY' call with a target of Rs 70 and a stop loss of Rs 56

Sesa Sterlite Ltd is a 'BUY' call with a target of Rs 190 and a stop loss of Rs 168

Tata Communications Ltd is a 'BUY' call with a target of Rs 340 and a stop loss of Rs 280

Torrent PowerBSE 0.43 % Ltd is a 'BUY' call with a target of Rs 95 and a stop loss of Rs 76

Hitachi Home Ltd is a 'BUY' call with a target of Rs 210 and a stop loss of Rs 165

Here is a list of ten stocks which are in focus in trade today:

Goldman Sachs has upgraded India to 'overweight' and has put an aggressive target of 7,600 for the Nifty in the next 12 months, which implies 17% upside from current levels.

Citing the reasons for the same, the global investment bank said in a report: "The cyclical macro adjustments in India have reduced external vulnerability. We now expect domestic fundamentals to improve as growth recovers in 2Q. Corporate earnings downgrades seem to have bottomed out, with more signs of improvement in the investment cycle. Headline valuations have recently expanded but cyclical sectors remain inexpensive compared to history and are relatively under-owned."

The Indian stock markets today extended gains and hit fresh all-time high as inflows continued on the back of positive cues from global markets. The benchmark Sensex was trading above 22,000.

Banks, auto oil & gas and realty sectors were the top sectoral performers in intraday trade.

Goldman said the upcoming parliamentary elections in April could have an impact on reforms progress.

Nifty hits 6500, Sensex surges over 300 pts.
rvind Sanger, managing partner, Geosphere Capital Management is highly bullish on the India story after the current account deficit (CAD) saw a smart decline in Q3. The CAD or the difference between the country’s exports and imports, has come down to USD 4.2 billion or 0.9 percent of the gross domestic product and has been aiding the positive market sentiment. India has been getting robust flows from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in the past 15 sessions. Despite FIIs offloading funds from emerging markets (EMs), Indian has clearly bucked this trend explains Sanger. He further adds that he has a target of low to mid-7000 on the Nifty for this year. Sanger further says that the market is likely to be volatile from a one month perspective driven by all the global events and local news flows around the general elections. However, the market is heading higher as it has a lot of tailwinds in the form of CAD and expectation of positivity from the inflation numbers, he adds. On what stocks to invest in, Sanger says the demand stories, infrastructure plays are likely to do well, but one must be cautious when dealing with the infra space. “Their debt to EBITDA ratios are too high, so be careful when choosing stocks in this space,” he warns. Sanger is bullish on the banking sector and says State Bank of India (SBI) is a safe play among public sector banks.

MUMBAI: Once accumulated as wealth by families to tide over rough times, gold has been reduced to a trading commodity. In the last few days, prices have plunged to register its biggest loss in more than three decades.

Gold prices have declined nearly 20 per cent while silver is down 23 per cent in 2013. International insiders report that four major fund houses shorted the commodity, which led to sharp declines on Friday, only to be followed up in Asia. The selling soon got out of control as margins and stoploss triggers came into play.

The gold prices have now officially entered the bear market with more than 20 per cent decline since its record highs above $1,900 in 2011 end.

Indian gold prices have declined less as the fall is cushioned by weakness in the Indian rupee. But here too, the prices have come off the record highs of nearly Rs 33,000 in 2011 to Rs 25,500 per 10 gms today. Gold prices in India hit a 19-month low while silver was at 26-month low and trading below Rs 44,000 per Kg.

The decline in gold led to Indian jewellery and bullion traders lowering shutters due to sharp decline in prices as they incur losses on holding stocks. The sellers are awaiting stability in prices before they quote prices.

In India, wedding season and Akshay Tritiya on May 13 are major buying events, which are expected to lend support to falling prices. Gold prices have seen some rebound from Boston bombings and war rhetoric from North Korea.

The forecast for gold is a difficult one to make right now. Most market analysts and participants feel that 2013 now will go down as a corrective year for precious metals and consolidate for a couple of years with modest gains.

The safe haven buying into the metal has been weak on inflation concerns and hopes of pick-up of growth in the US. While the economic growth data has not been consistent, but it has been getting better, leading to money flowing in equities. Another factor that led to onslaught on commodities was the lower than expected China growth data.

There are reports that Cyprus may be selling 12.5 tonnes of gold. Though the quantity is less than a weekly consumption in India, there is a fear that other EU countries with higher gold reserves could come into the market for sales.

There are also reports of Merril Lynch selling 4 million ounces on Comex which collectively led to decline in prices. To add to it, there has been a bearish gold report from Goldman Sachs that pushed buyers on sidelines. An opportunity selling that turned into panic selling and is now termed as Flash Crash.

The trading margins have increased across at Comex, Shanghai and Indian MCX as well and trading volumes have hit record highs on India's MCX and COMEX in US.

It augurs well with the Indian government which has been trying to discourage gold buying due to its impact on the current account deficit. India, China and much of Asia continue to be big buyers of gold.

he key Indian indices ended in red for third session on continuous selling pressure led by weak global and domestic environment. The BSE Sensex slipped 59 points and the Nifty closed 22 points lower in trade today.

 Major headlines

• Bank credit to industry up 14.7% in February 2013
• Diageo refuses to lift United Spirits offer price
• Maruti Suzuki rallies on weaker yen currency
• Sugar stocks jump as CCEA OKs partial decontrol

 Indian indices
The key benchmarks closed in the red zone as the equities traded on a subdued note led by selling pressure across the board. The Indian markets witnessed another weak trading session amid volatility in FMCG, CD, CG, Power and Bankex shares. The BSE Sensex fell for a third consecutive session on Friday as concerns that foreign investors would exit some of their holdings due to domestic and global uncertainties continued to hit blue chips such as ITC and ICICI Bank. The broader markets ended on mixed note. At the closing bell, the BSE Midcap index rose 0.02%, while the BSE Smallcap index was down by 0.15% leading to strong market breadth. The BSE Sensex fell 0.32% while Nifty ended 0.39% lower.

Movement of the Indian indices for the day

Indian stock markets extended previous session's losses leading to another weak session with negativity hovering all over the D Street today. Indices started trading in the red zone and remained listless for major part of the day. Equities did enter the green territory to  trade positive for a while raising investor's hope but could not sustain gains for long and slipped back to the negative zone. 

Following are the stocks/sectors which were in news today: Shares of sugar manufacturers rallied up to 20% in opening deals after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved a proposal to abolish the levy-sugar mechanism, under which private millers have to sell a specified quantity of the sweetener to the government at concessional rates. Bajaj Hindustan, Shree Renuka Sugars, Balarampur Chini Mills, Mawana Sugars, Oudh Sugars and Dhampur Sugar Mills traded 10-20% higher in trade today.  Maruti Suzuki India rose 7.23%, on hopes that a weaker yen currency would improve margins by reducing the costs of importing auto parts from Japan after the Bank of Japan unleashed unprecedented monetary expansion.  United Spirits fell 3.75% after UK drinks group Diageo Plc opted not to lift its offer price of Rs1,440 as it looks to raise its stake in the company.

Market sentiment The market breadth stood in favor of advances. Of the 2866 stocks traded on the BSE, 1422 (49.62%) rose, 1306 (45.57%) fell and 138 (4.82%) stocks remained unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening
Among the 13 sectoral indices, eight sectors closed in the red zone while remaining five sectors closed in the green zone. Top Gainers- BSE Oil&Gas up by 1.65%, BSE Auto rose by 0.55%, BSE Metal surged 0.31%. Top Losers: BSE FMCG was down by 1.74%, BSE CD fell by 0.78% and BSE CG declined by 0.72%

Among 'A' group stocks, top three gainers were- Indraprastha Gas rose by 11.45%, Maruti Suzuki was up by 7.23% and Motherson Sumi surged by 4.72%. Top three losers were- NMDC declined by 4.48%, Exide Industries was down by 3.84% and United Spirits fell by 3.75%.  

Global signals
Asian shares hit a three-month low on Friday as concerns over bird flu in China and escalating tensions in the Korean peninsula unsettled investors as they counted down to potentially pivotal U.S. payrolls data out later in the session.

European shares hit a one-month low on Friday as investors braced for potentially weaker-than-forecast U.S. payrolls data due later, while many of Europe's sovereign bonds jumped on talk of Japanese demand.

US stock index futures pointed towards a lower opening at the Wall Street on Friday.