Stocks rose on Friday amid mixed reactions to the railway budget and the Economic

RELATED ARTICLES Sensex ends flat; outlook still weak Sensex regains 16k level; ends 274 pts higher NSE loses trillion-dollar market cap tag; BSE a whisker away NSE loses trillion-dollar market cap tag; BSE a whisker away Sensex dips below 16k as rupee breaches 56 level

Survey for 2011-2012. Railway-linked stocks, especially wagon makers, saw a steep decline.

Sensex opened on a positive note following strong trading in Asian markets. But it fell steeply in afternoon trade as a knee-jerk reaction to the railway budget before recovering a bit to close at 17,700.91, a gain of 68.50 points, or 0.39 per cent.

Nifty ended the day with 40.85 points, or 0.78 per cent, gain at 5,303.55.

“Friday’s trading activity was crucial as Nifty had made new low for the week, but the closing was strong above the 5,300 mark,” said Shrikant Chouhan, senior vice-president for technical research at Kotak Securities.

Turnover in NSE’s cash market fell to Rs 13,502 crore compared with Rs 18,305.02 crore in the previous session. Though the market ended on a positive note, market participants were disappointed, as the Economic Survey failed to produce any positive surprise.

“Nothing surprising has come in the Economic Survey. It remains to be seen how the finance minister tackles inflation and still manages to achieve the growth target of 8.75 per cent to 9.25 per cent. Controlling fiscal deficit is key to reducing interest rates in order to attain the growth target and control inflation,” said Manish Shah, associate director at Motilal Oswal Securities.

Among Sensex stocks, Tata Motors recovered smartly after a deep plunge in the previous session. The automaker jumped 4.43 per cent to close at Rs 1,105.10. ICICI Bank, ITC, SBI and Jindal Steel added 3.55 per cent, 3 per cent, 2.09 per cent and 1.87 per cent, respectively.

Reliance Communications, Reliance Infrastructure, M&M and Hindalco slid 5.40 per cent, 4.58 per cent, 3.38 per cent and 2.48 per cent, respectively.

The railway budget failed to cheer the market, especially wagon makers, as they continued to see a steep fall for the second consecutive session. Kalindee Rail, Titagarh Wagons and Texmaco plummeted 13.74 per cent, 13.06 per cent and 7.98 per cent, respectively. Stone India, Kernex Microsystems and BEML tumbled 7.53 per cent, 7.53 per cent and 2.90 per cent, respectively.

Amar Ambani, head of research at India Infoline, said the overall undertone might continue to be nervous. “One needs to be very watchful before jumping the gun,” he said.

“One has no option but to wait for a trend reversal. We expect downward pressure to prevail in the near term and do not rule out Nifty retesting its intermediate low of 5,177,” he said.