Markets gather more strength after bouncing back into green

After breaking out in green, local equity markets gathering more strength were now trading with gains of over three tenths of a percent that lifted both Sensex and Nifty above crucial 27,750 and 8,350 levels respectively, on bargain buying activities by market-participants at lower levels. Forecast of timely monsoon coupled with the government containing the fiscal deficit at 4.00% of the GDP for 2014-15 boosted the market sentiment. Further, rate cut hopes by RBI at its upcoming monetary policy review on June 2, also aided the sentiment. Meanwhile, the session also was fruitful for broader indices, which outperforming larger counterparts were trading with gains in the range of 0.60-0.90%.

On the global front, Asian shares shrugging off early losses were mostly trading higher as surging Chinese shares and Wall Street’s record close offset continuing worries over Greece’s fiscal woes. However, fears of a Greek bankruptcy persisted even as the country's labor minister on Tuesday said Athens would soon conclude a cash-for-reform deal with its lenders.

Closer home, with across the board rally, almost all the sectoral indices on BSE were trading into positive territory, barring stocks from Oil &  Gas and PSU counters, which were the only loser amongst the 14 sectoral indices.  On the flip side, much of the buying activity was witnessed by stocks from Realty, Technology and Information Technology counters which were the prominent gainers of the session. Meanwhile, shares of eight power generation and distribution companies rose after India Meteorological Department and POSOCO signed MoU to increase the efficiency of power sector & to make them weather proof. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of advances which thumped declines in the ratio of 1466:968; while 116 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27782.30, up by 95.00 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 27577.67 and 27783.49. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.60%, while Small cap index up by 0.89%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.02%, TECK up by 1.01%, IT up by 0.97%, Capital Goods up by 0.92%, Consumer Durables up by 0.86%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.30%, PSU down by 0.05% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 3.31%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.55%, Wipro up by 1.86%, Infosys up by 1.64% and Tata Power up by 1.60%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.41%, HDFC down by 1.01%, GAIL India down by 0.64%, Tata Motors down by 0.62% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.60% were the top losers.

 Meanwhile, on account of recent appreciation of US dollar against rupee, the prices of compressed natural gas (CNG) and piped cooking gas (PNG) prices have been hiked by 45 paise per unit in the National Capital Region (NCR) with effect from Sunday midnight. After the latest revision, CNG price in Delhi will go up to Rs 38 per kg in Delhi, while the same in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad will increase by 50 paisa to Rs 43.30 per kg.

Similarly, the rates of piped cooking gas supplied to households have been revised from Rs 24.90 per cubic meter to Rs 25.35 per scm in Delhi. However, on account of differential tax structure in Uttar Pradesh, the applicable price of domestic PNG to households in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad would be Rs 27.05 per scm, which is being increased from existing Rs 26.55 per scm. Notably, the increase follows Rs 3.13 per litre hike in petrol and Rs 2.71 per litre increase in diesel rates effected from Saturday.

Though, in a major relief to domestic consumers, the upper slab of PNG consumption has been abolished and there will only be a single slab rate with effect from May 18. With this, domestic PNG customers with higher consumption slab of usage beyond 36 scm shall be charged at a single rate applicable in their respective city.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8392.90, up by 19.25 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 8335.20 and 8401.00. There were 33 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 3.72%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.63%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.15%, Wipro up by 1.72% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.71%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.48%, HDFC down by 1.29%, NMDC down by 1.16%, Cairn India down by 1.13% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.00% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; with KOSPI Index trading up by 7.13 points or 0.34% to 2,120.85; Hang Seng trading up by 78.67 points or 0.29% to 27,669.92; Taiwan Weighted trading up by 110.67 points or 1.15% to 9,716.77; Shanghai Composite trading up by 127.84 points or 2.98% to 4,411.33; Nikkei 225 trading up by 136.11 points or 0.68% to 20,026.38.

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI edged down by 10.99 points or 0.6% to 1,812.51;  Straits Times edged down by 9.3 points or 0.27% to 3,450.27 and Jakarta Composite edged down by 1.18 points or 0.02% to 5,236.63.

European markets got off to a positive start; with UK’s FTSE 100 trading higher by 38.62 points or 0.55% to 7,007.49;  France’s CAC trading higher by 90.25 points or 1.8% to 5,102.56 and  Germany’s DAX trading higher by 206.55 points or 1.78% to 11,800.83.