Markets continue to trade in high spirit in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in high spirit in early noon session, on the back of sustained buying by investors in the blue-chip counters amid firm cues from the Asian markets. Sentiment got boost on positive economic data as industrial production expanded at 2 percent year-on-year in February after staying negative in the last three months due to better performance of mining, power and consumer goods, while retail inflation dropped to a 6-month low of 4.83 percent in March, reflecting some improvement in the economy and offering further scope to RBI to stay accommodative. Sentiment further improved with the India Meteorological Department's (IMD) prediction that after two consecutive droughts, monsoon this year is expected to be ‘above normal’. It forecast monsoon at 106% of the Long Period Average (LPA). This is the first time since 1999 that department has made an ‘above normal’ prediction.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, after upbeat Chinese trade data offered the hope the economy was stabilizing, underpinning risk sentiment and commodity prices. Back home, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices extended gains and were trading up by 1.31% and 1.34% respectively. In scrip specific development, shares of Wipro were trading higher as the company’s board will consider a buyback of equity shares of the company on April 20, 2016. The company will also announce its financial result for the quarter ended March 2016 on the same day.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25565.77, up by 420.18 points or 1.67% after trading in a range of 25358.42 and 25579.17. There were 29 stocks advancing against 1 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.31%, while Small cap index up by 1.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 2.80%, Metal up by 2.53%, Bankex up by 2.45%, Realty up by 2.21% and Consumer Durables up by 1.57%, while they was no loser on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 6.71%, ICICI Bank up by 5.36%, Tata Motors up by 3.58%, Tata Steel up by 3.15% and Wipro up by 2.75%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 0.94% was the only loser.

Meanwhile, showing some signs of relief, the retail inflation or the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month March 2016 eased to a six- month low on account of cheaper food articles such as vegetables and pulses. The retail inflation fell for the second straight month to 4.83 percent in March as compared to 5.18 percent in February. Consumer inflation was seen below this level at 4.41 percent in September 2015. Meanwhile, CPI in February was revised upwards to 5.26 percent from 5.18 percent earlier.

As per the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Consumer Price Index numbers on Base 2012=100 for Rural, Urban and Combined for the Month of March 2016 stood at 5.70%, 3.95% and 4.83% respectively as against 6.05%, 4.30% and 5.26% in the month of February 2016. Meanwhile, Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) for all India Rural, Urban and Combined for the month of March 2016 stood at 5.79%, 3.98% and 5.21% respectively. The General Indices (Provisional) for the month of March 2016 for Rural, Urban and Combined were 128.0, 123.8 and 126.0 respectively. The CFPI for Rural, Urban and Combined for the same month were 129.8, 128.0 and 129.2 respectively.

Food inflation for March too softened at 5.21 percent as against 5.30 percent in February. The rate of price rise in vegetables was at 0.54 percent, oils and fats 4.85 percent, milk and products 3.33 percent, while fruit prices deflated further at (-)1.10 percent in March. Pulses too turned cheaper, as the inflation print came in at 34.15 percent during the month. However, inflation in sugar and confectionery shot up at 3.92 percent in March from 0.51 percent in February. And for pan tobacco and intoxicants, the inflation stood at 8.51 percent over 8.39 percent. Retail price rise of cereals and products rose to 2.43 percent and that for meat and fish category, it moved up slightly with an inflation print of 7.74 percent. Likewise, prices of eggs shot up further during the month with inflation standing at 6.68 percent.

Last week, RBI governor Raghuram Rajan had said that inflation has evolved along the projected trajectory and the target set for January 2016 was met with a marginal undershoot. The central bank said headline Consumer Price Index based inflation is projected to moderate in 2016-17 to around 5%. In its recent monetary policy review the central bank had cut key interest rate by 25 basis points. But with inflation easing further, the clamor for another 25 basis points cut is only going to get louder.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7832.10, up by 123.15 points or 1.60% after trading in a range of 7772.20 and 7842.95. There were 48 stocks advancing against 2  stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 7.00%, Hindalco up by 5.49%, ICICI Bank up by 5.40%, Ultratech Cement up by 4.10% and Tata Motors up by 3.56%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 0.83%, HCL Tech. down by 0.36% and TCS down by 0.13% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading higher; Jakarta Composite increased 5.57 points or 0.12% to 4,835.15, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 5.59 points or 0.33% to 1,720.59, Shanghai Composite increased 67.64 points or 2.24% to 3,091.29, Taiwan Weighted increased 120.9 points or 1.42% to 8,652.08, Nikkei 225 increased 441.48 points or 2.77% to 16,370.27 and Hang Seng increased 518.27 points or 2.53% to 21,022.71.