Benchmarks trade positive after a flat start

The Indian equity markets are trading in the positive terrain after a flat start supported by sustained buying by foreign funds over the past few days. Though, some amount of recovery witnessed in Asian markets too aided the sentiments as most of the Asian markets were trading in the green at this point of time after a subdued start. On the domestic front the economic news once again remained better and the factory orders for the month of November rose by 1.8% from a decline of 0.2% in October. Moreover, Sensex inching towards its crucial 16,000 level while, Nifty was trading comfortably above its psychological 4,750 mark supported by most of the index heavyweights along with broader indices. Meanwhile, upstream oil companies like Reliance Industries, ONGC and Cairn India were up 1-2% on rising crude oil prices. The broader indices were going neck to neck with benchmarks. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 979 shares on the gaining side against 419 shares on the losing side while 51 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 15,893.07; about 11 points higher compared to its previous closing of 15,882.64, and has touched a high and a low of 15,971.19 and 15,875.08 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 15,968.92, up by 86.28 points or 0.54%. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 67.56% stocks advancing against 28.92% declines. The broader indices were trading in line with benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 0.57% and 0.58% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CD up by 1.18%, CG up by 0.99%, Auto up by 0.93%, Power up by 0.83% and Oil and Gas up by 0.79%. While, Realty down by 0.37% and TECk down by 0.01% were the only losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero MotoCorp up by 2.01%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.66%, BHEL up by 1.59%, Tata Motors up by 1.55% and Sterlite Industries up by 1.53%.

On the flip side, DLF was down by 1.68%, Maruti Suzuki was down by 1.20%, Bharti Airtel was down by 0.92%, Coal India was down by 0.55% and Infosys was down by 0.26% were the only losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the interest rates on post office savings schemes, except the Public Provident Fund (PPF), will remain fixed throughout the term of the scheme. The finance ministry has clarified that though the rate of interest on small savings schemes will be linked every year with rates of government securities of similar maturity, with suitable spread, the rates are fixed and not floating so far as individual investments except PPF are concerned.

However, in case of PPF, which is a 15-year scheme; interest rates would not remain fixed for the entire period. The annual interest accumulation in the PPF account will depend upon the rate for that particular year.

The clarification comes in response to some news items that the interest rates on small saving schemes, revised by the government with effect from December 01, 2011, are floating rates, which will undergo change according to fluctuations in the yield on the government securities.

The finance ministry also clarified that the rate prevailing at the time of investments will remain fixed and unchanged till the maturity of the investment. Any revisions in interest rates in subsequent years will only be applicable to the investments made in the relevant period. For instance, investment made in an instrument other than PPF on December 01, 2011 will remain valid till the maturity of that instrument, irrespective of revision of interest rate with effect from April 01, 2012. Further for PPF, the interest rate fixed every year will be applicable to all PPF accounts.

Recently the government with effect from December 01, 2011, raised interest rates on PPF to 8.6% from 8% now, and also raised ceiling on annual contributions to the fund to Rs 1 lakh from Rs 70,000. Interest rates on savings account in post offices also raised to 4% from 3.5%. Similarly, interest rates on deposits of other maturities too were raised from December.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 4,749.00; flat compared to its previous closing of 4,749.65, and has touched a high and a low of 4,771.15 and 4,745.50 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 4,766.75, higher by 17.10 points or 0.36%. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Cairn up by 2.63%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.05%, BHEL up by 1.74%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.64% and Tata Steel up by 1.44%.

Ambuja Cement down by 2.13%, GAIL down by 2.13%, DLF down by 1.82%, ACC by 1.58% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.90%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite was up 6.98 points or 0.32% to 2,176.37, Hang Seng was up 83.07 points or 0.44% to 18,810.38, Jakarta Composite was up 6.85 points or 0.18% to 3,914.27, Straits Times was up 15.72 points or 0.58% to 2,726.74, Seoul Composite was up 7.01 points or 0.38% to 1,873.23 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 23.99 points or 0.34% to 7,106.96.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 62.66 points or 0.73% to 8,497.45.