Benchmarks trade firm near highest point the day

Indian equity markets continued their firm trade hovering near the highest point of the day in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments were on optimistic note after industrial production growth accelerated to a two-month high of 4.1 percent in April 2015 against 2.1 percent in the month before, affirming that broad economic activity was on the mend. Traders were seen piling position in Auto, Oil & Gas and FMCG stocks while selling was witnessed in Consumer Durables, Power and Bankex stocks. In scrip specific development, Kaveri Seed Company was trading in green after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stated that foreign portfolio investors could now invest up to 49% of the company’s equity base. Nestle India was trading in red after the Bombay High Court refused to stay orders of the central Food Safety Regulator and Maharashtra Government banning nine variants of its Maggi noodles from the market for being hazardous to public health.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in red while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,050 and 26,700 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1451:990 while 120 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26701.07, up by 275.77 points or 1.04% after trading in a range of 26307.84 and 26728.60. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.53%, while Small cap index up by 0.76%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.35%, Oil & Gas up by 1.20%, FMCG up by 1.10%, Capital Goods up by 1.00% and Realty up by 0.93% while, Consumer Durables down by 0.17%, Power down by 0.10% and Bankex down by 0.03% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.72%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.44%, HDFC up by 2.13%, Wipro up by 1.90% and ITC up by 1.72%.

On the flip side, SBI down by 0.85%, Vedanta down by 0.71%, Hindalco down by 0.69%, NTPC down by 0.55% and Coal India down by 0.24% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, deflationary trend continued for the seventh month in a row though some consolidation sign appeared with Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation coming at (-) 2.36% in May, compared to -2.65% (provisional) for the previous month mainly on the back of plunging oil and manufacturing goods prices, even as food prices increased. Inflation, as measured on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), has been in the negative zone since November 2014. Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 0.91% compared to a build up rate of 0.94% in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Component wise, inflation in primary articles, having weight of 20.12% rose by 1.3% to 244.9 (provisional) from 241.8 (provisional) for the previous month. In primary articles the index for ‘Food Articles’ group rose by 0.5% to 253.9 (provisional) from 252.7 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for  ‘Non-Food Articles’ group rose by 5.1% to 213.9 (provisional) from 203.5 (provisional) for the previous month, while the index for ‘Minerals’ group rose by 0.4 percent to 247.7 (provisional) from 246.6 (provisional). Fuel & Power, the index for this major group having weight of 14.91% rose by 3.0% to 189.8 (provisional) from 184.2 (provisional) for the previous month.

Manufactured products index which has the highest weightage of 64.97%, witnessed 0.2 percent to 154.1 (provisional) from 153.8 (provisional) for the previous month. In manufactures products, the index for ‘Food Products’ group rose by 1.1 percent to 171.7 (provisional) from 169.8 (provisional), the index for ‘Beverages, Tobacco & Tobacco Products’ group declined by 0.2 percent to 203.0 (provisional) from 203.5 (provisional), the index for ‘Textiles’ group declined by 0.1 percent to 140.1(provisional) from 140.3 (provisional), the index for ‘Paper & Paper Products’ group declined by 0.2 percent to 152.8 (provisional) from 153.1 (provisional), the index for ‘Non-Metallic Mineral Products’ group declined by 0.4 percent to 176.9 (provisional) from 177.6 (provisional).

On the other hand, the index for ‘Wood & Wood Products’ group rose by 0.5 percent to 192.9 (provisional) from 192.0 (provisional), the index for ‘Leather & Leather Products’ group rose by 1.2 percent to 143.5 (provisional) from 141.8 (provisional), the index for ‘Rubber & Plastic Products’ group rose by 0.5 percent to 148.8 (provisional) from 148.1 (provisional), the index for ‘Chemicals & Chemical Products’ group rose by 0.1 percent to 150.9 (provisional) from 150.7 (provisional) and the index for ‘Transport, Equipment & Parts’ group rose by 0.1 percent to 137.6 (provisional) from 137.4 (provisional).

Meanwhile, for the month of March, 2015, the final Wholesale Price Index for ‘All Commodities’ and annual rate of inflation remained unchanged at its provisional level of 176.1 and -2.33 percent respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8051.85, up by 68.95 points or 0.86% after trading in a range of 7944.85 and 8057.70. There were 32 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cairn India up by 4.18%, Sun Pharma up by 3.93%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.76%, HCL Tech up by 2.39% and HDFC up by 2.28%.

On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation down by 2.72%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.97%, Bank of Baroda down by 1.46%, Ambuja Cement down by 1.10% and IndusInd Bank down by 1.01% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng decreased 418.73 points or 1.53% to 26,861.81, Shanghai Composite decreased 103.36 points or 2% to 5,062.99, Jakarta Composite decreased 74.25 points or 1.5% to 4,861.56, Taiwan Weighted decreased 42.45 points or 0.46% to 9,259.48, Straits Times decreased 33.72 points or 1.01% to 3,320.13, Nikkei 225 decreased 19.29 points or 0.09% to 20,387.79, KOSPI Index decreased 9.85 points or 0.48% to 2,042.32 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 4.1 points or 0.24% to 1,730.27.

The European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 142.93 points or 1.28% to 11,053.56, France’s CAC decreased 56.62 points or 1.16% to 4,844.57 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 41.42 points or 0.61% to 6,743.50.