The market was highly choppy today registering a steep fall and then a smart recovery to close in the positive. The Sensex closed at 18526, down 76 points while Nifty at 5519, down 41 points from the previous close. The BSE Midcaps and Smallcaps Index, both closed in the negative down nearly 2%. Of the sectoral indices, most closed in the negative while BSE Bankex was up 1.8% and BSE Auto Index was up 0.7%. The market breadth was negative with advances at 251 against declines of 946 on the NSE. The Nifty gainers included ICICI Bank, ACC, RPL and Bajaj Auto while losers included Unitech, Sterlite, Suzlon and NTPC.

Siemens board approves 1:1 bonus issue, reports NDTV Profit. Siemems posts Q4 PAT at Rs 309 crore vs Rs 137 crore and sales at Rs 2190 crore vs Rs 1490 crore. The stock is currently trading at Rs 1956, up 0.7% on the BSE.