Nifty Down 22points Sensex by 23 points higher

volatile session ended on a flat note with the NSE Nifty index closing below the 5k mark after three trading session. After posting smart gains at open, key indices were unable to hold on to their gains and witnessed gyrations during the session. However, markets turned choppy and lackluster finally ending almost unchanged. Among the 30-scrips of Sensex, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever and ICICI Bank are among the major gainers. On the other hand, RCom, Tata Steel and ITC were among the major laggards.

Finally, the BSE benchmark Sensex ended 23 points higher to close at 16,721 and the Nifty index ended 22 points lower to 4,999.

During the April series the NSE Nifty index was up 3%, the Mid-Cap index was up 11% and the Small-Cap was the led by gaining 16% during the series.

Overall about 1,266 stocks advanced; 1,465 stocks declined while 54 stocks remained unchanged.

ACC declined by over 5% to Rs799. The company announced its Q1 results with net profit at Rs3.58bn and net sales at Rs17.96bn (up 7.5%). The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs850 and a low of Rs795 and recorded volumes of over 11,00,000 shares on NSE.

HDFC Bank ended flat at Rs1442. The company announced its Q4 net profit at Rs4.71bn vs Rs3.44bn and Q4 total income was at Rs35.06 vs Rs23.21bn. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs1469 and a low of Rs1408 and recorded volumes of over 12,00,000 shares on NSE.

Maruti Suzuki declined by over 2% to Rs747 after the company said that it posted its first decline in profit in five years. The company announced its Q4 results with net profit falling 34% at Rs2.98bn and net sales rose 8% to Rs47.63bn.

The company said its Q4 depreciation was at Rs3.11bn vs Rs718.2mn, it adopted shorter depreciation cycle, it shortened full depreciation of equipment to 8 years. The company further said that it has Q4 MTM losses of Rs504.8mn on derivative. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs777 and a low of Rs726 and recorded volumes of over 23,00,000 shares on NSE.

Indiabulls Securities advanced by 4% to Rs115 after Merrill Lynch raised stake in the company to 5.02%. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs121 and a low of Rs113 and recorded volumes of over 19,00,000 shares on NSE.

Wipro surged by nearly 1.5% to Rs449. According to reports, the company plans to leverage its Unza connection to grow its consumer care business. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs453 and a low of Rs442 and recorded volumes of over 2, 00, 000 shares on BSE.

Polaris declined by over 6% to Rs101 after the software developer deferred a decision to buy back its shares and said profit for the year ended March 2008 fell to Rs732.2mn from Rs1.01bn a year earlier. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs104 and a low of Rs98 and recorded volumes of over 22,00,000 shares on NSE.

Unitech dropped by half a percent to Rs284. The Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India ("DOT") vide its letter dated April 22, 2008 allotted to the Unitech’s subsidiary company, 4.4 MHz of Spectrum in 1800 MHz GSM band in Tamil Nadu Service Area including Chennai. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs296 and a low of Rs283 and recorded volumes of over 18,50,000 shares on BSE.

DLF was down by nearly 1.5% to Rs674. According to reports the company along with Tidco signed MoU to develop an IT SEZ at a cost of Rs15bn in Chennai. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs697 and a low of Rs671 and recorded volumes of over 6, 50,000 shares on BSE.

Hindustan Zinc gained by 1.2% to Rs644. The company said that it cut lead prices by Rs2,800 per ton and reduced zinc prices by Rs2,400 per ton. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs654 and a low of Rs630 and recorded volumes of over 1,00,000 shares on NSE.