After a weak start Indian market attracted good buying in the middle of the session. Although, selling pressure at higher levels caused indices to shed most of the gains but again it managed to close in green with marginal gains. Auto, Capital goods, Metals and Oil&Gas appeared as leading gainers. The Sensex closed at 18489, up 43 points from its previous close, and Nifty closed at 5536, up 13 points. The CNX Midcap index was up 0.3% and the BSE Smallcap index was up 0.2%. The market breadth was negative with advances at 604 against declines of 681 on the NSE. The top Nifty gainers were JP Associates, Tata Power, Tata Motors and L & T and prime losers included Sun Pharma, IDFC, Reliance Infra and Suzlon. FIIs were net buyers with the tune of Rs 229.02 cr (prov. cash market fig).

In the next session, again, Nifty is expected to trade in the range 5458-5603. Below 5458, 5413 may be another strong support while sustaining above 5603 Nifty may test 5624 and 5669 levels. Capital goods and Metals may attract more buying while Pharma and Realestate may appear comparatively weak.

Investors with horizon of 6-12 months can consider following scripts for their investment. These companies have potential to give higher returns than index over a long term.

The country's largest telecom player, Bharti Airtel launched 3G service in Delhi circle, enabling subscribers to access high speed internet and video telephony. The company launched its third Generation of Mobile services on the back of a robust network powered by over 1,800 3G sites in the National Capital Region spanning Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Noida. Bharti Airtel is the third private operator after Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications to launch 3G services in the country.

GVK Airport Holdings Private Limited (GAHPL), the company that operates and manages the Mumbai International Airport (MIAL), has bought an additional 13.5% in MIAL from its South African partner, Bid Services Division
(BSDM), to scale up stake to just over 50%. The transaction, formalised on Tuesday and subject to regulatory approvals, values MIAL at $1.7 billion. BSDM is subsidiary of South African infrastructure company, Bidvest. GVK Airport Holdings, a step down subsidiary of GVK infrastructure, will pay $280 million for a 13.5% stake in MIAL, which handled 40 million passengers in 2010.

State-owned Steel Authority of India will develop unused land of about 6,500 acres owned by Fertiliser Corp of India at its Sindri unit in Jharkhand , but will wait for liberal terms from the government before venturing with its proposal. The government initiated the talks to revive the Fertiliser Corp unit which has been shut since 2002. The plan included various sale options before short listing the idea of giving the land to another state-owned enterprise. SAIL is also keen on building a steel plant at Sindri as it can be integrated with the company’s existing unit at Bokaro which is 60 km away and can also use ore from nearby mine at Gua.

Hinduja Group flagship firm Ashok Leyland reported a 24.53% jump in commercial vehicle sales to 9,800 units in February 2011, compared to the same month of the previous year. The company sold 7,869 units in February, 2010. Domestic sales stood at 8,984 units in February 2011 as against 7,092 units in the same month of the previous year, translating into a 26.67% and exports increased by 5.01% to 816 units in February 2011 from 777 units in the year-ago period.

Indian food inflation eased in mid February following a drop in prices of vegetables and milk, but high headline inflation would keep the pressure on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to raise interest rates this month. Food inflation in India is among the highest in Asia and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's annual Budget on Monday had spelt out steps to help boost output. The embattled government, already battling a slew of corruption scandals, has said fighting high food prices was a top priority for the nation of more than one billion people.

India’s core infrastructure industries posted an impressive growth of 7.1% in Jan’11. Electricity generation grew by 9.3% as compared with 6.4% in the corresponding period previous year, crude oil grew at 10.8% in Jan’11 Vs 9.8% in Jan’10. Finished Steel and cement registered a deceleration at 8.2% and 1.8% respectively while production of coal contracted by 1.2%.