Markets retreat from record highs; IT gains

Markets edged higher in an otherwise choppy session of trade. The benchmark indices after touching a record high for a seventh consecutive session, fell as profit taking emerged in the financial counters post the RBI Policy.

For the day, the Sensex was up 60 points at 22,446 and the Nifty added 17 points to close the trade at 6,721.

In intra-day trades, the Sensex and Nifty had hit a record high of 22,486 and 6,732 respectively.

Broader markets closed largely in green with the midcap index flat with a positive bias at 7,086 while the smallcap index outperformed with a 0.5% gain, outperforming BSE benchmark index, up 0.3%.

In its first bi-monthly policy review, as expected, Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan kept the key policy rate (repo) unchanged since retail inflation still remains "sticky" but introduced steps to increase liquidity and contain volatility in the money market.

Sectors & Stocks

Banking index down 1.2% along with Realty and Capital goods losing 0.8% and 0.3% respectively were the only indices to close in red.

Meanwhile, Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables, It and Teck indices up 1-2% were the top sectoral gainers.

Power, Metal, Auto, FMCG and Health Care indices up 0.2-0.5% were the other sectoral gainers.

IT majors Wipro, TCS and Infosys up 1-3% were the top gainers among sensex-30.

Metal names Sesa Sterlite, Tata Steel advanced 2% each.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Dr Reddys Lab, NTPC, ONGC, RIL and Tata Motors up 1-2% were the other notable gainers.

Hindalco, Maruti Suzuki, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, BHEL, SBI, Hero MotoCorp and Bharti Airtel down 1-2.5% were the prominent losers of the day.

The market breadth was positive on BSE. 1,572 stocks advanced while 1,137 stocks declined.

Smart Moves

Gati Limited soared 12% to Rs 91 after the company said Japanese logistics services firm Kintetsu World Express (KWE) has acquired 5% stake in the company through off-market deal today.

Cairn India was up 4% to Rs 345 on back of heavy volumes. The stock hit a high of Rs 351 in intra-day trades, its highest level since September 2012 on the BSE.

Education services company Educomp Solutions was locked at upper circuit at Rs 27.75, amidst media reports of the company being in talks with a US firm for acquisition. .

Shares of UPL, formerly known as United Phosphorus Limited, moved higher by 5% to Rs 193, after the company said it has sell its entire 50% stake in the Brazilian agrochemical company Sipcam UPL.

Global Markets

Asian shares hit a four-month high on Tuesday after dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and China's official PMI survey showing the manufacturing sector managed to continue expanding in March.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose by up to 0.4% to reach its highest level since early December.

The Nikkei failed to match other indexes, falling 0.2% as the Bank of Japan's tankan survey showed Japanese companies cautious on the economic outlook as a three-percentage-point sales tax hike took effect on Tuesday.

In Europe markets opened higher with all the major indexes in green. CAC, DAX and FTSE added 0.4-0.6%.