Benchmarks make gap up start; Nifty inches towards 5,600 mark

The Indian equity markets have made a gap up start with Nifty inching towards 5,600 mark tracking positive cues from global indices. All the Asian equity indices barring Shanghai Composite were trading in the positive territory at this point of time after indications that euro-zone officials would soon approve a long-awaited bailout for Greece. Moreover, the US markets surged over around a percent overnight as sentiments got a boost from the encouraging weekly jobless claims data, which slipped to lower than expected levels. Back home, sustained buying in mostly all the key heavyweights along with broader indices supported BSE’s -- Sensex -- and NSE’s -- Nifty -- to trade comfortably over their crucial 18,300 and 5,550 mark respectively. Meanwhile, shipping stocks remained on investor’s radar as reports suggest that committee of secretaries would hold a meeting later in the day to discuss shipping subsidy. Stocks like, Great Eastern Shipping, Shipping Corp, Essar Shipping and Varun Shipping were edged higher in the trade. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,387 shares on the gaining side against 350 shares on the losing side while 67 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 18,331.20; about 177 points higher compared to its previous closing of 18,153.99, and has touched a high and a low of 18,392.99 and 18,302.97 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 18,383.30, up by 229.31 points or 1.26%. There were 26 stocks advancing against just 4 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 76.88% stocks advancing against 19.40% declines. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 1.39% and 1.32% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CG up by 3.52%, Power up by 3.11%, Bankex up by 2.51%, Realty up by 2.46% and PSU up by 1.97%. While, there were no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 8.13%, SBI up by 4.40%, Sterlite Industries up by 3.48%, DLF up by 3.29% and ICICI Bank up by 2.83%.

On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp was down by 1.24%, Maruti Suzuki was down by 0.53%, Bajaj Auto was down by 0.49% and Cipla was down by 0.09% were the only losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, foodgrain production is expected to touch record levels of over 250 million tonnes, exceeding targets for the year by 5 million tonnes. The production of cotton in 2011-12 estimated at 34 million bales which is also a new record, stated the Prime Minister while addressing a workshop in the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

However, Singh cautioned that inspite of the record production, India could not afford to be complacent as the demand for horticulture and animal products was increasing very rapidly and this would require some shift of area away from production of foodgrains. Therefore agricultural productivity in foodgrain production had to go up handsomely to keep pace with demand.

Furthermore, to meet the total demand of foodgrains in the year 2020-2021, food production need to report surge by 2%. To achieve this agricultural research and application of new technologies and knowledge to processes production would have to be stepped up. Singh emphasized on the need to increase yields in the eastern region and of more efficient use of water and called for a special focus on rainfed areas, where farm productivity continues to be low.

The PM observed that there was a big gap between the farm gate prices and the retail prices that the consumers were paying. Also there was volatility, with prices being low after harvest. Hence there was a need to address all these issues by reforming the agricultural marketing systems and by investing in supply chain logistics, including the cold chains. He further stated that private investment was being encouraged in various areas of agriculture, including extension activities, soil testing, seed production and agricultural marketing. A substantial portion of hybrid and certified seeds today was coming from private seed companies and private investment in marketing logistics would be vital for growth, particularly in sub-sectors with perishable products.

Acknowledging his government’s efforts in the last seven years Singh said that his government had been paying considerable attention to agriculture which has resulted in increased bank credit to the agriculture sector and an increase in minimum support prices for key agricultural commodities. The prime minister emphasized that a strong agriculture was necessary for food security and inclusive growth could not be achieved in its true sense without providing livelihood security to the farmers.

Agriculture and allied sectors had grown at an estimated rate of 3.5% in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12), compared to the growth rate of 2.4% in the previous plan period. The foodgrain production in 2010-11 crop year (July-June) stood at 244.78 million tonnes. 

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,574.20; about 53 points higher compared to its previous closing of 5,521.95, and has touched a high and a low of 5,596.55 and 5,567.20 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,593.70, higher by 71.75 points or 1.30%. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were BHEL up by 8.17%, Axis Bank up by 4.61%, SBI up by 4.41%, IDFC up by 3.83% and Sterlite Industries up by 3.73%.

On the flip side, BPCL down by 2.08%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.13%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.57%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.47% and Infosys down by 0.05%, were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices barring Shanghai Composite were trading in the green; Hang Seng was up 148.65 points or 0.70% to 21,425.93, Jakarta Composite was up 19.56 points or 0.50% to 3,947.17, KLSE Composite was up 7.04 points or 0.45% to 1,557.53, Nikkei 225 was up 164.70 points or 1.78% to 9,402.80, Straits Times was up by 12.08 points or 0.41% to 2,989.28, Seoul Composite was up 30.31 points or 1.52% to 2,027.76 and Taiwan Weighted was up 27.59 points or 0.35% to 7,897.29.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 3.35 points or 0.14% to 2,353.51.