Indian equities trade with conviction in noon trades; Sensex up 0.75%

Indian stock indices traded on a positive note in afternoon trades of the last trading day of the year 2011 as investors took to across the board short covering after the recent three straight session sell-off. Investors built hefty positions in the PSU and rate sensitive Banking counters and pulled the benchmarks above the important psychological 4,650 (Nifty) and 15,650 (Sensex) levels. The Asian peers too are exhibiting largely positive trends as a slew of encouraging US economic reports like the Chicago-area factory PMI, pending November home sales and US weekly jobless claims data buttressed sentiments in the region. While, European futures too suggested that the stocks there will open on a positive note.  On the domestic front, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that the overall inflation would drop to 6% by March end. The statement of the FM came in backdrop of weekly food inflation declining well below one percent, to the lowest level since April 2006. On the BSE sectoral front, there appeared absolutely no index which traded in the negative terrain while the PSU counter remained the top gainers in the space with over one and half a percent gains followed by the rate sensitive Banking pocket which traded with around a percent gains.

Moreover, the broader markets too traded with a positive note with moderate gains of under half a percent, underperforming their larger peers. The bourses gained on weaker volumes as this is the first session of new F&O series. The market breadth on BSE was in favor of advances in the ratio of 1399:1112 while 109 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 15,660.72 up by 116.79 points or 0.75% after trading as high as 15,694.05 and as low as 15,575.08. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a positive note; the BSE Mid cap index added 0.45% and Small cap rose 0.38%.

On the BSE sectoral space, PSU up 1.63%, Bankex up 0.99%, Metal up 0.85%, Consumer Durables up 0.78% and Oil & Gas up 0.76% were the major gainers while there were no losers in the space.

Tata Motors up 2.34%, ICICI Bank up 1.70%, HDFC up 1.69%, Hindalco up 1.37% and JP Associates up 1.32% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while Jindal Steel down 0.56%, Bajaj Auto down 0.54%, HUL down 0.38%, DLF down 0.19% and M&M down 0.16% were the major losers in the index.

Meanwhile, in order to meet the internal demand of sugar for the month of January, 2012, the central government has earmarked 17.16 lakh tons of sugar. The government is of the belief that this quantity of 17.16 lakh tons will be adequate for sale in the open market and distribution through ration shops during the first month of 2012.

Out of the total quantity, 2.16 lakh tons will be for the public distribution system (PDS) also called levy sugar while the rest 15 lakh tons will be for sale in the open market also called non-levy sugar. The non levy sugar is further bifurcated into normal quota under which 14 lakh tons of sugar is allocated while the remaining one lakh ton is allotted to the section - availability on account of carryover quantity of unsold/undispatched non-levy sugar quota of December, 2011.

The Food Processing Industries ministry also stated that the sugar factory shall sell and dispatch the entire non-levy quantity released for the month of January, 2012 only within the validity period of the release order i.e. upto January 31, 2012. Besides, the ministry also extended the validity period for sale and dispatch of the non-levy sugar quota released for the month of December by 15 days till January 15, 2012.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,679.95, higher by 33.70 points or 0.73% after trading as high as 4,690.45 and as low as 4,657.35. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Sesa Goa up 3.63%, R Com up 3.08%, Cairn up 2.91%, Tata Motors up 2.26% and Siemens  up 1.92%.

Grasim down 1.20%, IDFC down 1.16%, Jindal Steel down 0.83%, HUL down 0.81%, Bajaj Auto down 0.65% and DLF down 0.40% were the major losers on the index.

Asian markets traded largely on a positive note; Shanghai Composite surged 0.94%, Hang Seng gained 0.38%, Jakarta Composite rose 0.26%, Nikkei 225 climbed 0.67%.

On the flipside only Straits Times slipped by 0.35% and Taiwan Weighted eased 0.04%.

Stock markets in South Korea remained closed for a public holiday.