Benchmarks extend gains; trade near day's high level

Indian equity benchmarks extended early gains and were trading near intra-day high level on the back of buying witnessed in frontline blue chip stocks amid firm global cues. There was no sign of profit booking since morning with major indices fervently gaining from strength to strength on the back of strong buying. Investors’ sentiments got a boost with exit polls predicting a stable government led by BJP coming to power at the Centre. Investors were seen piling up position in fundamentally strong stocks despite the weak IIP and CPI data. All of the major indices were trading in green and realty index was the top gainer on BSE index up by around 4.60% followed by consumer durables and capital goods indices trading up by over 4.30%. Shares of public sector undertakings (PSU) companies across all sectors including banks were in buyers’ radar. Broader indices too equally participated in the rally with both mid and small cap indices trading up by close to 2%.

Adani Group companies such as Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports and and Adani Power were in focus, trading higher by up to 10% each. Bharti Airtel has jumped by around 1.7% on the news that it will raise up to $1.5 billion this week in euro and dollar bonds to refinance old loans. Torrent Cables was locked in upper circuit of 10% at Rs 113, also its 52-weeek high on the BSE, after board approved amalgamation of the company with Torrent Power.

On global front, Asian equity indices were trading in green. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 7,100 and 23,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,513 stocks traded, 1,503 stocks advanced, while 889 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 23,967.76 up by 416.76 points or 1.77% after trading in a range of 23,997.77 and 23,729.25. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.93%, while Small cap index up by 1.74%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 4.60%, Consumer Durables up by 4.40%, Capital Goods up by 4.39%, Realty up by 3.32%, and Metal up by 2.79%. There were no losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 13.58%, Tata Power up by 4.78%, Tata Steel up by 4.46%, ONGC up by 4.07% and Gail India up by 3.98%. On the flip side,  Dr Reddy’s Lab down by 1.81% and HDFC Bank down by 0.63%.

Meanwhile, the industry body Ficci’s latest survey has highlighted that the growth in manufacturing sector is expected to moderate during the first quarter of the current fiscal due to weak domestic demand and slowdown in global demand for Indian products. The survey indicated that even with sluggish domestic demand, the exports outlook for sector too seems to be weakening, as a result of which manufacturing growth is likely to decline in Q1FY15.

The survey noted that out of 352 units, which participated in the survey, only 36 percent have reported higher order books for April-June FY15. The proportion of respondents expecting higher exports in the Q1 FY15 has fallen to 36 percent as against 58 percent in the Q4 FY14. Out of the 14 manufacturing sectors, five industries such as Automotive, Capital Goods, Machine Tools, Cement and Steel & Metals are likely to witness low growth of less than 5 percent. The Ficci’s survey further added that only three sectors, leather, chemicals and ceramics are expected to have a strong growth of over 10 percent in Q1 FY15 and rest are likely to witness moderate growth.

The output of manufacturing sector, which constitutes 75.52% in the IIP index, declined 1.2 percent in March against growth of 4.3 percent a year earlier. During the April-March period of 2013-14, the sector’s output contracted 0.8 percent compared with 1.3 percent growth previously. The sector’s output was mainly impacted by weak demand as Indian economy is struggling with slowdown. Indian economy’s growth slowed down to a decade low at 4.5 percent in FY13 and 4.6 percent during the first three quarter of FY14.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7,144.30 up by 130.05 points or 1.85% after trading in a range of 7,153.50 and 7,067.15. There were 48 stocks advancing against 2 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were BHEL up by 13.57%, DLF up by 4.99%, PNB up by 4.74%, Bank of Baroda up by 4.52% and Tata Steel up by 4.49%. On the flip side, Dr Reddy’s Lab down by 1.88% and HDFC Bank down by 0.52% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading in green; Hang Seng up by 0.21% to 22,309.36, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.11% to 8,817.94, Nikkei 225 up by 1.81% to 14,307.77 and Jakarta Composite up by 0.16% to 4,920.82. While, Shanghai Composite down by 0.36% to 2,045.89.