Markets trade with a positive bias amid volatile session of trade

In an extremely volatile session of trade, Indian equity benchmarks altering between positive and negative territory, were now trading with a positive bias on increased buying by funds and retail investors, mainly in Healthcare, realty and information technology (IT) stocks. Besides, expectations of encouraging IIP data for May to be released later in the day too supported the upside. Some support also came from a slew of measures proposed in the Union Budget to revive economic growth and investor confidence. However, broader gains were capped on weak Asian stocks due to troubles at a small Portuguese bank managed to wrong foot investors already made anxious by the US earnings season and a spate of disappointing economic data globally. Meanwhile, Realty stocks surged for the second consecutive day after key positive announcements made by the Finance Minister in Budget 2014-15. Furthermore, shares of information technology (IT) companies were trading higher after Infosys reported a better-than-expected consolidated net profit for the first quarter ended June 30, 2014.

On the global front, Asian shares recouped some of early losses as sentiment in the region proved resilient to Portuguese bank concerns amid signs offshore funds were returning to emerging world assets. Back home, stocks from Oil & Gas, Healthcare, Realty and information technology (IT) counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Metal, Oil & Gas and PSU counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone.  The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2150 stocks traded, 1166 stocks advanced, while 901 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25427.13 up by 54.38 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 25548.33 and 25304.38. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.43%, while Small cap index up by 0.66%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Healthcare up by 2.32%, Realty up by 1.92%, IT up by 1.49%, Consumer Durables up by 1.34% and Teck up by 1.26%, while Metal down by 1.02%, Oil and Gas down by 0.80%, PSU down by 0.66%, Bankex down by 0.21% and Capital Goods was down by 0.02% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.90%, Cipla up by 2.07%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 1.89%, TCS up by 1.79% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.63%. On the flip side, Hindalco was down by 1.82%, HDFC was down by 1.81%, Gail India was down by 1.79%, SBI was down by 0.94% and ONGC was down by 0.87% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, amid rising concerns over high inflation in the country, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan has asserted that the central bank is determined to bring down consumer inflation through a combination of demand and supply management. Highlighting inflation as a pernicious disease which is eroding household financial savings, Raghuram Rajan said that controlling inflation is RBI’s paramount objective.

The RBI aims to bring down CPI inflation to around 8 per cent by the end of January 2015 and to 6 percent by the end of the following year. The RBI Governor stressed that the government and central bank would have to work together if inflation has to be brought under control. Further, the Governor added that currently central bank is working with the government to create a clear monetary framework.

The CPI inflation rose by 8.28% y-o-y in May as compared to 8.59% in April on account of high prices of food articles and fuels. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised lending rate three times since September’13 in order to tame price rise through cooling demand.  On the other hand, the government has also taken a number of measures over the recent month to improve the supplies of food products.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7,584.65 up by 16.90 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 7,625.85 and 7,549.05. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 2.72%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 2.10%, Lupin up by 1.99%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.91% and Cipla up by 1.82%. On the flip side, NMDC down by 2.37%, Hindalco down by 1.90%, HDFC down by 1.79%, Cairn down by 1.08% and Gail down by 1.06% were the major losers on the index.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the red; Nikkei 225 tumbled by 0.51%, Hang Seng slipped 0.30%, KOSPI Index declined by 0.79%, Jakarta Composite dropped 1.66%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI contracted by 0.39% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.77%.

On the flip side, Straits Times rose 0.56% and Shanghai Composite was up by 0.27%.