Benchmarks trade firm after a flat start

After a disappointing performance post budget, key benchmarks have made a flat opening tracking mixed cues from the global markets. The Sensex, however, has recovered its strength recapturing its crucial 17,350 mark while, Nifty inching towards its psychological 5,300 mark. On the global front, Apple lifted US stocks overnight after it announced regular dividends and a share buy-back plan. However, the major European markets all moved lower on Monday while, most of the Asian counters were trading in the red at this point of time. Back home, all the sectoral indices on the BSE traded in the green. High beta realty, metal and capital goods stocks outperformed the broader markets. Among individual stocks, Kingfisher Airlines has slumped about 6 percent on reports that the airline’s flying permit may be cancelled. While, Reliance Capital Trustee Company, a subsidiary of Anil Dhirubhai Group's Reliance Capital has purchased 13 million shares of Mahindra Satyam for over Rs 87 crore. RCap is up by 1.50 percent. The broader indices were going neck to neck with benchmarks and the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,006 shares on the gaining side against 556 shares on the losing side while 69 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 17,308.89; about 35 points higher compared to its previous closing of 17,273.37, and has touched a high and a low of 17,384.96 and 17,245.92 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 17,369.34, up by 95.97 points or 0.56%. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 61.68% stocks advancing against 34.09% declines. The broader indices were trading in line with benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 0.53% and 0.52% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 1.27%, Metal up by 1.18%, CG up by 1.02%, CD up by 0.97% and Bankex up by 0.84%. While, there were no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sterlite Industries up by 2.15%, Jindal Steel up by 1.74%, BHEL up by 1.73%, DLF up by 1.58% and Tata Steel up by 1.32%.

On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki was down by 1.03%, Bajaj Auto was down by 0.77%, Infosys was down by 0.46%, ONGC was down by 0.40%  and Coal India was down by 0.36% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, with an intention to boost bilateral trade between the regions, Indian and African leaders have decided to enhance economic and commercial relations and are aiming for $90 billion trade in next three years, which is a significant improvement, considering the fact that a decade ago the trade was $3 billion.  While, both the regions discussed potential areas of cooperation, India endeavored to boost its trade and diplomatic ties with Africa where China has already made major inroads by striking multiple deals, building infrastructure projects and offering soft loans.

The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Anand Sharma along with over 500 Indian business delegates met his African counterpart who was accompanied by over 600 African delegates in New Delhi for the 2nd meeting of the India-Africa Trade Ministers where more than 250 projects worth close to $30 billion were being discussed.  Africa, which is richly endowed with oil, minerals and other natural resources, is looked upon as a destination from where India can diversify its energy sources and reduce its dependency on the Middle East which supplies two-thirds of its energy imports.

The African Trade and Industry Ministers acknowledged the Indian Government’s initiative to set up an Integrated Textiles as well as other clusters in African countries, to address the need for value-addition in the textiles sector in Africa. The proposed Integrated Clusters are expected to garner investments of $350 million and generate employment for 60,000 textile workers. Last year, the two sides had set a target of $70 billion trade to be achieved by 2015. Bilateral trade totaled $62 billion in 2011.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,257.15; flat compared to its previous closing of 5,257.05, and has touched a high and a low of 5,288.80 and 5,246.95 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,277.45, higher by 20.40 points or 0.39%. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Sterlite Industries up by 1.88%, Sesa Goa up by 1.72%, BHEL up by 1.56%, Jindal Steel up by 1.56% and JP Associates up by 1.53%.

On the flip side, Ranbaxy down by 1.07%, Kotak Bank down by 0.90%, RPower down by 0.83%, Tata Power down by 0.78% and Infosys down by 0.63%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite was down 18.61 points or 0.77% to 2,391.57, Hang Seng was down 141.26 points or 0.67% to 20,974.03, Jakarta Composite was down 5.81 points or 0.14% to 4,018.92, Seoul Composite was down 7.57 points or 0.37% to 2,039.43 and Taiwan Weighted was down 37.35 points or 0.46% to 8,006.57.

On the flip side, KLSE Composite was up 3.63 points or 0.23% to 1,577.23 and Straits Times was up 16.21 points or 0.54% to 3,006.30.

Stock markets in Japan remained closed on Tuesday for a national holiday on account of Spring Equinox.