Markets pare some early gains; hold their neck in green

Indian equity markets have pared some of their early gains on prevailing caution ahead of US jobs report. Nevertheless, the momentum still remains on positive side on continued buying activities by both funds and retail investors. Firm global cues coupled with the appreciation in rupee value against the dollar too added to the optimistic sentiments. Holding their neck in green, while Sensex was trading below the psychological 22,500 level, Nifty was holding the fort above crucial 6700 bastion. Broader indices too surrendered some of their gains, but continued outperforming peers. Healthy buying was observed in IT, Teck, consumer durables, healthcare and PSU sectors, while selling pressure was seen in metal, Capital Goods and Auto sectors.

On global front, Asian stocks were trading mixed as investors weighed corporate earnings ahead of US jobs report. Wall Street had closed little changed on Thursday ahead of non-farm payrolls data which will provide further clues on improvement in US economy. Back home, Auto stocks came under sharp selling pressure after disappointing April sales. M&M fell 1.67% after it reported 15% drop in its sales to 34,107 units in April despite excise cut. Maruti Suzuki India was trading at Rs 1896.50, down 1.38%, after it reported 12% fall in domestic sales for April.

Meanwhile, Godrej Properties, Grasim Industries, HeidelbergCement India, Hindustan Construction, Pfizer, Reliance Capital, Reliance Communications and V-Guard Industries ahead of their earnings announcement. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 1962 stocks traded, 1159 stocks advanced, while 710 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 22480.73 up by 62.93 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 22575.62 and 22433.55. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.58%, while Small cap index up by 0.83%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.23%, Teck up by 1.09%, Consumer Durables up by 0.67%, Healthcare up by 0.61% and PSU up by 0.48%. While, Metal down by 0.66%, Capital Goods down by 0.39%, Auto down by 0.21% and FMCG down by 0.01% were top losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys India up by 1.79%, Tata Power up by 1.15%,  TCS up by 1.11%, ICICI Bank up by 0.84% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.83%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.71%, Tata Steel down by 1.65%, Hindalco down by 0.52%, Gail India down by 1.14% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.04%.

Meanwhile, the output growth of eight core industries slowed down to 2.5% in the month of March from a year earlier, against 4.5% in February and 7% recorded in the same month of previous year on account of poor production of crude oil, natural gas and fertiliser sectors. Core industries’ cumulative growth slowed to 2.6% during FY14 from 6.5% in FY13. 

The eight industries - crude oil, petroleum refinery products, natural gas, fertilisers, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel - have a weight of 37.9% in the overall Index of Industrial Production (IIP). Among core sectors, Electricity generation having 10.32% weight in index registered a growth of 5.4% in March, 2014 over the same month of corresponding period. During April to March 2013-14 it recorded a growth of 5.6% over the corresponding period of previous year. Steel and Coal sectors having weightage of 6.68% and 4.38% respectively in IIP index, registered a growth of 5.4% and 0.7% respectively, in the month under review over March 2013. In cumulative terms, Steel and Coal production grew by 4.3% and 0.8% during April to March 2013-14 from a year earlier.

Cement production having 2.41% weight in IIP index remained same in March, 2014 as of March, 2013,  while its cumulative growth during April to March, 2013-14 was 3.0 % over the corresponding period of previous year. Petroleum refinery production, representing 5.94% weight in IIP index registered a growth of 2.8% in March, 2014 over March 2013. The cumulative growth of Petroleum refinery production during April-March, 2013-14 grew by 1.7% over the corresponding period of previous year.

On the flip side, Fertilizer production having weightage of 1.25% in IIP index declined by 6.1% in March, 2014 over March, 2013. However, the cumulative index of Fertilizer production during April to March 2013-14 grew at 1.5% on yoy basis. Natural Gas production having weight 1.71% in IIP index declined by 9.3% in March 2014 as compared to the month in March, 2013 and its cumulative index during April to March 2013-14 declined by 13% over corresponding period of previous year. Crude Oil production having weight of 5.22 % in IIP index declined by 1.6 % in March, 2014 over March, 2013. The cumulative growth in Crude Oil output during April to March, 2013-14 declined by 0.2 % over the corresponding period of previous year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,714.25 up by 17.85 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 6,737.65 and 6,698.70. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were NMDC up by 3.00%, BPCL up by 1.77%, Infosy up by 1.76%, Asian Paint up by 1.53% and Lupin up by 1.22%. On the flip side, Jindal Steel down by 3.37%, M&M down by 1.67%, Tata Steel down by 1.51%, Cairn down by 1.43% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.38% were the top losers on the index.

Asian equity indices traded mixed; Shanghai Composite increased by 0.30%, Jakarta Composite was up by 0.24%, Hang Seng was up by 0.75% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.77%.On the flip side, KLSE Composite decreased 0.12%, Nikkei 225 was down by 0.25%, Straits Times was down by 0.42% and KOSPI slipped by 0.06%.