Markets end in green

It was not a bad session for the markets as they ended in green after spending most of the day in negative terrain. Recovery came in during the final hour of trade on the back of buying seen in banking, auto and metal stocks. SBI ended the day with a gain of over 4%. The other gainers were Hero Honda, Tata Steel and Reliance Enery. However the IT stocks continued to sulk and the BSE index index ended in red.

The government has not taken any decision to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in the retail sector, Finance Minister P Chidambaram told the Rajya Sabha today.FDI was only permitted for cash-and-carry, wholesale and single brand retail.FDI inflow of $13.5 billion in 2006-07 was the highest-ever.If retained earning and swap deals were to be included, FDI would be $19 billion.

India’s largest commercial bank State Bank of India (SBI) advanced 3.85% to Rs 1123 and was the top gainer. The stock surged after market rumors that CRR may be slashed shortly. ICICI Bank (up 1.25% to Rs 852) and HDFC Bank (up 0.71% to Rs 997) were the other gainers from the banking space.

Bike maker Hero Honda followed with a gain of 3.46% to Rs 703.REL (up 2.81% to Rs 520), Tata Steel (up 2.11% to Rs 564.80), and Bajaj Auto (up 1.65% to Rs 2575), were the other gainers.Ranbaxy Laboratories gained 1.35% to Rs 393.95.