Finally, a bright day on Dalal Street. The frontline Indian equity markets ended with modest gains after five straight days of losses.  Metals, Capital Goods, Realty, Auto and  Power indices led the rally from the front. Even the Mid-Cap and Small-Cap stocks witnessed some buying momentum.

After opening on a flattish note, the Indian markets declined in the initial hours, with the Nifty almost breaching the 5150 mark amid weakness in Asian markets. However, from thereon, the benchmark indices bounced back and were on a constant upswing.

The Sensex ended at 17,185 gaining by 80 points or 0.5%. It had earlier touched a day’s high of 17,205 and a day’s low of 17,038. It opened at 17,113.

The NSE Nifty settled at 5216, up 23 points or 0.45%. It touched a day’s low of 5,169 and day’s high of 5,223.

PNB, Bank of Baroda, Tata Motors, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Ranbaxy, Cairn and Cipla were the notable losers on the Sensex and the Nifty today.

Bajaj Auto, Tata power, Sesa Goa, Jindal Steel, Maruti and Sterlite were among the gainers on the Nifty.

The INDIA VIX on NSE lost by 2% to close at 17.44. It hit day’s high of 17.83 and day’s low of 17.06.

The market breadth on the BSE was positive, 1404 stocks advanced and 1374 stocks declined. While, 152 stocks remains unchanged.

"While today’s session was a positive one, considerable anxiety prevails over monsoon's weak progress in the crucial July month and its impact on the Indian economy. Market participants are also pricing in status quo at the RBI's month-end monetary policy review," says Amar Ambani, Head of Research, IIFL.

"Concerns also prevail over the Government's ability to push through pending reforms like FDI in multi-brand retail, diesel decontrol, reduction in fertilizer subsidy and clearance of financial sector bills".

"Indian markets have advanced lately on expectations of some positive news on the reforms front after the Prime Minister took additional charge as the Finance Minister. Investors will be disappointed if the Centre fails to live up to these expectations".

"The quarterly results season is also underway now, prompting investors to adopt a 'wait-and-watch' approach for the time being. Globally too, things remain quite fragile amid no sign of a permanent fix for the eurozone debt crisis and mounting worries over the economic slowdown in the US and China," Ambani said.

Market participants cheered data showing a slight fall in retail level inflation in June. Provisional annual inflation rate based on all-India general consumer price index (CPI) for June 2012 on a point-to-point basis stood at 10.02%. The corresponding inflation rates for Rural and Urban areas were 9.74% and 10.44%, respectively for June 2012.

Asian markets closed mixed after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke refrained from committing to another round of bond buying. The Hang Seng was the biggest loser, down ~1.1% while Japanese indices closed modestly lower and the Chinese index jumped in late trade.

Stocks in the News

GTL Infrastructure shares jumped after the company said that its Board of Directors has issued compulsorily convertible debentures to lenders and the promoter group as part of its corporate debt restructuring (CDR).

Honeywell Automation India shares tumbled after its net profit fell 54.45% to Rs 11.75 crore on a 11.17% growth in net sales during the April-June quarter.

Shares of select organised retailers rose on media speculation that the Government was planning to persuade the chief ministers of individual states to back the entry of foreign supermarket chains.

Exide Industries shares came under pressure, with the stock extending Tuesday's fall triggered by the company's weaker-than-expected Q1 FY13 earnings.

Tata Power shares spurted on bargain hunting after falling 9% in the preceding eight sessions.

Triveni Turbine shares fell after its profit after tax (PAT) declined 18% to Rs 17.40 crore on a 31% fall in net income during the April to June quarter.

Cadila Healthcare shares climbed, extending Tuesday's 4.7% rally, after the company announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has found the company's facilities at Moraiya acceptable.

Bajaj Finserv extended Tuesday's gain triggered by the company's strong Q1 results.