Indian equities trim losses; trades in green at the highest point of day

Indian equity markets trimmed off its losses to trade in green hovering near the highest point of the day in the late afternoon session. Traders were seen piling up the positions in Auto, Metal and Capital Goods sector while selling was witnessed in Consumer Durables, Bankex and IT sector. The sentiment turned sanguine after the overwhelming manufacturing PMI numbers, which showed Indian manufacturing sector business conditions improved at fastest rate in eight months were outweighed by reports that India's trade deficit widened in December to $12.7 billion from $8.0 billion a year earlier as export growth slowed due to falling global demand. Industry heavyweight RIL is trading firm in green with gain of around more than one percent giving the much needed support. Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, M&M and Bajaj Auto from Auto pack were seen trading in green driving the markets higher. L&T and BHEL from Capital Goods space were trading in green pulling the markets higher. Jindal Steel, Hindalco, SAIL, Tata Steel, Sterlite and Sesa Goa from Metal pack were seen trading in green pushing the markets higher.

Cement stocks ACC, Ambuja Cements, Shree Cement, Jaiprakash Associates, UltraTech Cement and India were trading firm in green ahead of announcement of January 2012 shipment figures by cement companies, which is scheduled to start from today, February 01, 2012. Aviation Companies Jet Airways, SpiceJet and KingFisher Airlines were trading firm after state-run oil marketing companies with effect from midnight, January 31, 2012, slashed jet fuel prices. ADA Group companies like Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Communications, Reliance Power, Reliance MediaWorks and Reliance Broadcast Network were seen trading firm in green. On the global front, the Asian markets were trading on a mix note while the European markets were trading in green on an optimistic note. The European Union leaders finalized a treaty at a meeting in Brussels that quickens sanctions on nations running high deficits. European Union leaders, meeting in Brussels yesterday, completed a fiscal-discipline treaty that speeds sanctions on high-deficit states. Besides, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos stated that he is strongly committed to reaching a debt-swap pact with bondholders. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,200 and 17,200 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was in favor of advances in the ratio of 1633:1044 while 114 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,207.71 up by 14.16 points or 0.08% after trading as high as 17,210.16 and as low as 17,061.55. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 declines on the index.

The broader indices were too trading on a positive note; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.76% while Small cap climbed 1.27%.

On the BSE sectoral space, Auto up 1.96%, Metal up 1.84%, Capital Goods up 1.71%, Power up 1.29% and Health Care up 0.33% were the top gainers while Consumer Durables down 1.25%, Bankex down 0.63%, IT down 0.51%, TECk down 0.48%, PSU down 0.42% were the major losers in the space.

Tata Power up 5.20%, Jindal Steel up 3.94%, Hero MotoCorp up 3.25%, Hindalco Industries up 2.97% and Maruti Suzuki up 2.24% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while Coal India down 2.47%, ICICI Bank down 2.04%, ONGC down 1.76%, Bharti Airtel down 1.48% and HDFC down 1.36% were the major losers in the index.

Meanwhile, India's trade deficit in December 2011, widened to $12.7 billion as compared to $8.0 billion a year ago. Exports grew by a meager 6.7% to $25 billion, whereas imports were up to $37.7 billion, registering an increase of 19.8%. The slowdown in exports was expected, given the slackening of demand from the US and European markets.

According to the data released by the Commerce & Industry, the cumulative value of exports for the period April-December 2011-12 was $217.6 billion, up by 25.84%, given the better performance in the earlier two quarters. Cumulative imports were up by 30.37% to $350.9 billion for April-December 2011-12. As a result the cumulative trade deficit for the first three quarters of FY12 (April-December 2011-12) stood at $133.2 billion, which was 38.5% higher, than the deficit for the corresponding period last year.

Oil imports during December 2011, were at $10.2 billion which was 11.20% higher than in December 2010. Non-oil imports during December 2011 were estimated at $27.4 billion which was 23.38% higher than $22.2 billion in December, 2010. Cumulatively, during April-December 2011, oil imports stood at $105.5 billion, an increase of 40.3% as compared to the corresponding period last year. Non-oil imports rose by 26.5% to $245.3 billion for the same period.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,206.15, higher by 6.90 points or 0.13% after trading as high as 5,206.55 and as low as 5,159.00. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Tata Power up 5.05%, Jindal Steel up 4.00%, IDFC up 3.83%, Hindalco up 3.58% and Hero MotoCorp up 3.36%.

Coal India down 2.89%, ICICI Bank down 2.04%, BPCL down 1.89%, ONGC down 1.85% and Bharti Airtel down 1.65% were the major losers on the index.

In the Asian space, Jakarta Composite rose by 0.23%, Nikkei 225 rose 0.08%, Seoul Composite advanced 0.18% and Taiwan Weighted climbed 0.43%.

On the flipside Shanghai Composite plunged 1.07%, Hang Seng declined 0.28% and Strait Times eased 0.34%.

The European markets were trading in green with, France’s CAC 40 ascended 1.14%, Germany’s DAX jumped 0.84% and Britain’s FTSE 100 soared 0.77%.