Markets sustain early gains; Nifty comfortably trades past crucial 7,550 mark

Going from strength to strength, Indian equity markets sustaining early gains were trading with gains of over a percent, lifting both Sensex and Nifty above the psychologically crucial 25,300 and 7,550 levels respectively.  Bargain hunting by market-participants post four straight session of market’s fall in fundamentally strong blue chip stocks amidst lower Brent crude prices mainly led to some cheer at Dalal Street. Globally, Brent crude slipped below $114 a barrel on Tuesday, as data showing near-record high oil exports from Iraq indicated supplies remained unaffected by the escalating violence at the OPEC's No. 2 producer.

However, negative European start could temper bourses’ gains in F&O expiry week, where volatility is at its best. On the global front, European shares, extending previous session’s somber mood, were trading weak in early deals on Tuesday as disappointing euro zone business surveys revived concerns about the pace of economic recovery in the region.

Closer home, while most of the sectoral indices on BSE were performing well, stocks from Information Technology and defense Healthcare counters, were acting spoil-sports. On the flip side, heavy buying interest was witnessed in stocks from Realty counters, followed by Consumer Durables and Infrastructure counters. Meanwhile, banking stocks also gained as concerns of fuel price led inflation eased along with decline in crude oil prices. Besides, sentiment also buttressed after Shares of ITC made a smart recovery on Tuesday post sharp selloff witnessed in previous trading session that was triggered by media reports suggesting increase in tax hike on cigarettes. Meanwhile, in non-sectoral gauge activity, aviation stocks were flying higher as crude oil prices eased amid speculation that Iraqi oil production won't be disrupted by escalating violence in OPEC's second-largest producer. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of advances which thumped declines in the ratio of 1539:352; while 16 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25310.94, up by 293.8 points or 1.17% after trading in a range of 25115.83 and 25359.97. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.   

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.39%, while Small cap index up by 1.66%.   

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.52%, Consumer Durables up by 2.28%, India Infrastructure Index up by 1.88%, Power up by 1.79%and Capital Goods up by 1.71% while, IT down by 0.06%, Healthcare down by 0.05% were the losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were Gail India up by 3.72%, BHEL up by 2.31%, HDFC up by 2.3%, SBI up by 2.18% and Axis Bank up by 2.05%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 0.79%, Infosys down by 0.51%, Wipro down by 0.46%, ONGC down by 0.24% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.21% were the top losers.   

Meanwhile, Union Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar has stated that Indian textile export is likely to touch $50 billion mark in the current fiscal. Minister added that textiles have tremendous potential and the government will provide full support to improve the industry exports. India’s textile exports recorded at around $40 billion in the FY14.

S K Gangwar further asserted that textile ministry is keen to set up 25-30 textile parks and a couple of mega clusters for the development of industry.  By adding further, he said that ministry would take steps for reform in the present labour law to benefit the large number of unorganised labour in the textile industry.

Textile industry contributes around 4 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP), around 10 percent to the country’s export earnings and nearly 14 percent to industrial production besides providing direct employment to over 45 million people. Exports have been remained a core feature of India’s textile industry. India’s global market share in trade increased to 5.2 percent in 2013 from 3 percent in 2002.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7,569.35, up by 76.00 points or 1.01% after trading in a range of 7515.20 and 7580.05. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.   

The top gainers on Nifty were DLF up by 4.62%, Gail India up by 3.84%, Bank of Baroda up by 3.45%, NMDC up by 3.03% and BHEL up by 2.52%. On the flip side, Kotak Bank down by 1.86%, Sun Pharma down by 0.99%, Infosys down by 0.7%, HCL Technologies down by 0.6% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.58% were the top losers.  

Asian equity indices were trading in green; Hang Seng up by 0.47%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.19%, Straits Times gained 0.29%, Jakarta Stock Index added 0.46%, Shanghai Composite up by 0.48%  and Nikkei 225 up by 0.05%.

The European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX lost 0.66%, UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 0.57% and France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.57%.