THOUGH IN RED IT WAS A SMART RECOVERY

Indian markets showed smart recovery despite snapping the day in the red territory as they managed to outclass most of the Asian peers in Asia and Europe by fat a margin. The level of complexity remained unprecedented on the global front as unwarranted news that threat of radiation exposure was heightened following an explosion and fire at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, prompted investors to square-off positions and take profit off the table. The leads from the European counterparts too remained discouraging as concerns over the lingering Euro-zone debt crisis re-surfaced. However the downside risks got prevented by strong position build up in index bellwether Reliance Industries (RIL) which zoomed almost 2% on expectations that the company would gain from the closure of petrochemical and oil refining plants in parts of Japan ravaged by the earthquake. While reports of advance tax payments by companies RIL and a host of other companies too kept the markets buzzing through the day. Meanwhile, stocks of tyre manufacturers rallied sharply as they outclassed the weak broader markets after the steep decline registered by natural rubber which has shaved off 26% month to date, thereby buttressing optimism on stocks like JK Tyre and Industries, Ceat, Apollo Tyres and MRF which went home with gains of 1%-6.50%. The NSE's 50-share broadly followed index plunged about one and half a percent point and moved back to the crucial 5,450 support level while the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index, or Sensex shrank over two hundred fifty points to settle below the 18,200 mark. The broader markets too mirrored their larger peers and drifted to lower levels to snap the day on a pessimistic note. The BSE's midcap index went home with losses of 1.47% while the smallcap index declined 1.63% points. On the BSE sectoral front, the oil and gas counter remained only gainer in the space as it gained 0.32% on the back of gains in heavyweight RIL which surged 1.83% but most of the gains were nullified by the 3.42% losses in ONGC. On the other hand, the high beta Realty pocket languished at the bottom of the table after slipping 3.14% as hefty profit booking in majors like HDIL and Unitech was witnessed which got clobbered by 5.51% and 3.28% respectively. While the rate sensitive Auto pack slipped 2.03% ahead of RBI's mid-quarterly policy review on March 17.

On the global front, Asian equity indices were trapped amid a huge sell-off led by Japanese Nikkei which plummeted more than ten percent as its nuclear crisis deepened after two more explosions occurred at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's No 2 and No 4 reactors, on top of previous blasts at the No 1 and No 3 reactors. The European markets too are mirroring similar trends with France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE cracking between 2-5%, On the other hand, the screen trading for US index futures also indicated that the Dow could open with a sharp cut of over two percent.

Earlier on Dalal Street, the benchmark got off to a gap down start tracking the disappointing leads from Japanese markets which took an extremely large laceration of over 12% as the nation continue to cope with the aftermath of last week's devastating earthquake and massive tsunami followed by a new explosion resulting in radiation leak at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The frontline indices soon recovered early morning's plunge and gradually kept gaining steam on the back of robust buying in index heavyweight RIL and some select stocks of FMCG and PSU sectors. The 50-sahre nifty met with severe resistance around the crucial 5,500 levels post which the splendid recovery that looked good enough to lift the market into positive territory got vanished. Eventually the bourses managed to buck the global pressure to a large extent and bounced back a great deal from the low point of the day to settle with one and half a percent losses. The markets registered strong volumes of over Rs 1.78 lakh crore while the turnover for NSE F&O segment too remained on the higher side compared to Monday at over Rs 1.62 lakh crore. Market breadth remained abysmal as there were 847 shares on the gaining side against 1979 shares on the losing side while 101 shares remained unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex declined 271.84 points or 1.47% to settle at 18167.64 while the S&P CNX Nifty dropped by 81.85 points or 1.48% to end at 5449.65.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 18,326.33 and 17,920.55, respectively. The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices gained 1.43% and 1.63%, respectively.

Reliance industries up 1.83% and Reliance Communication up 0.45% were the only gainers on the Sensex.

On the flip side, Jaiprakash Associate down 3.80%, Maruti Suzuki down 3.55%, ONGC down 3.42%, Sterlite Industries down 3.25% and DLF down 3.15% were the major losers on the index.

Reliance Communications, one of India's leading telecom service providers, is planning to launch its 3G services in 17 major towns in Orissa by the end of this month. The company is planning to launch affordable 3G in 13 circles by the end of the current quarter and cover all the 22 telecom circles by the end of 2011 for establishing nationwide presence next year through associations with other 3G licensees in the balance nine telecom circles.

The company has licenses to launch 3G mobile services in 13 telecom circles of the country. The company holds 3G licenses in the telecom circles of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, North East, Jammu and Kashmir, Orissa and Assam. Reliance Communications has already rolled out its 3G services in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chandigarh.

The company has partnered with best international organizations like Nokia for devices, Facebook, Nokia and Ericsson for applications, Universal Music for content and Motricity for web portal, to achieve world-class 3G experience.

Oil & Gas up 0.32% was the only gainer in the BSE sectoral space. Realty down 3.14%, Auto down 2.03%, Metal down 2.02%, Power down 2.01% and Capital Goods (CD) down 1.99% were the major loser in the BSE sectoral space.

IT major Mahindra Satyam (earlier known as Satyam Computer Services) has bagged a multi million, multi year contract from Qatar based Aspire Zone Foundation, one of the leading sports institutes in the world with state-of-the-art academic, sports science and sports facilities to provide onsite and offshore support on various application development and infrastructure services projects.  Aspire Zone will also utilize Mahindra Satyam's expertise in event and venue management technologies as part of its ambitious event and venue management solution roadmap. The partnership between both the companies will help position Qatar as a global hub of excellence in sports from training athletes to holding international events.

The S&P CNX Nifty touched a high and a low of 5,497.85 and 5,373.65 respectively.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Reliance up 1.73%, Siemens up 1.16%, Sunpharma up 0.93%, Reliance Capital up 0.20% and ACC up 0.20%.

The top losers on the index were Sesagoa down 4.12%, Reliance Power down 4.01%, Jaiprakash Associates down 3.98%, Maruti down 3.61% and DLF down 3.46%.

European markets were trading red on Tuesday. France's CAC 40 declined 3.54%, Germany's DAX dropped 4.54% and Britain's FTSE 100 rose by 2.57%.

All Asian equity indices finished the sluggish day's of trade in the negative terrain on Tuesday led by Japanese Nikkei plummeted more than 10 per cent as country's nuclear crisis deepened after two more explosions occurred at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's No 2 and No 4 reactors, on top of previous blasts at the No 1 and No 3 reactors. Moreover, Chinese Shanghai declined about 1.4 percent, as worries that country's central bank will continue to drain funds from the financial system added to fears about Japan's nuclear crisis. All the Asian counterparts too lost their track and snapped the day's trade with a cut in a range of 1%-3%.