Post session - Quick review

After trading recklessly in the first half of the session, barometer gauges put up a surprisingly tough show, by gathering good gains by the end of the session to halt the five day’s losing streak. Value buying which emerged after series of downfall firmed up bourses, which pricing in negatives like Greece concerns, sliding rupee, and inflation, managed to gain significant traction on Tuesday. 30 scrip sensitive index, Sensex on BSE, after recovering from 17 months low, reclaimed 16300 fortress, to conclude with gains of over half a percentage points. The widely followed 50 share index, Nifty, on NSE too sneaked out gains of over half a percentage points to end above the 4900 bastion. Meanwhile, broader indices, after squandering gains for most of the session, ended with similar gains.

Encouraging leads from European region mainly turbo-drove Indian equity markets. Lifted by surprisingly strong German economic data, European equities bounced up from 2012 lows on Tuesday. The German GDP figures came as the silver lining as it indicated that Europe’s largest economy grew much more than expected in the first quarter, rising 0.5% q-o-q and 1.2% from the corresponding period last year.

However, mostly negative close of Asian counterparts, kept bulls under check, rattled by a political impasse in Greece that could lead the debt-stricken country to a disorderly and destabilising exit from the euro currency union.

Back home, retreat of beleaguered Indian currency from record low level, gave some sense of respite to Indian equity markets. The anemic rupee strengthened sharply from perilous 54/$ mark after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stepped in with what dealers called 'massive' intervention, signaling an intent to defend the beleaguered domestic currency. Meanwhile, markets cheered bail for Andimuthu Raja, former telecom minister and prime accused in the 2G spectrum sale. Cheering on the news were stocks DB Realty, SpiceJet , Sun TV that RCom, rising in the range of 4-8%. However, even fertilizer stocks like FACT, National Fertilizers, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers and Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals rallied in the range of 4-8% on hopes of urea price hike, even after reports suggested that government was planning to reduce subsidy on fertilizers and divert funds to organic manures, bio-fertilisers, green manures and promotion of organic farming.

Stocks from Capital Goods, Metal and Information Technology acted as a major driving force for the surge of the markets, on the flip side, however, stocks from Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Oil & Gas and Consumer Durable space, limited the gains of the bourses. The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1354: 1330 while 134 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex gained 108.78 points or 0.67% and settled at 16,324.62. The index touched a high and a low of 16,370.12 and 16,123.04 respectively. 19 stocks advanced against 11 declining on the index (Provisional)

The BSE Mid-cap index gain 0.65% while Small-cap index was up 0.41%. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Capital Goods up 3.06%, Metal up 2.27%, Information Technology up 1.47%, TECk up 1.03% and Health Care up 0.99% were the gainers while Fast Moving Consumer Goods down 0.65% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were L&T up 5.49%, Sun Pharma up 3.32%, Infosys up 2.93 %, Sterlite Inds up 2.74% and Hero MotoCorp up 2.66% while, NTPC down 2.94%, Maruti Suzuki down 2.88%, Gail India 1.29 % down, ITC down 1.28% and Bharti Airtel down 1.20% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the government has notified the decision to remove the limit on sugar exports, issuing the notification more than a week after an inter-ministerial meeting, Chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, it was decided to eliminate ceiling on sugar exports by putting it under the Open General Licence (OGL). The move is likely to help industry export its surplus sugar and clear cane payment arrears to farmers that have mounted to over Rs 10,000 crore.

According to the notification, effective from 11th May, there would be no quantitative restrictions on sugar exports and producers are not required to obtain export release order from the Food Ministry under OGL in the 2011-12 marketing year (October-September) till further orders.

The notification further stated that a trader who has imported raw sugar under the Advance Authorisation Scheme (AAS), under which mills are obligated to export the sweetener after processing, on 'grain-to-grain' basis are also not required to obtain export release order. However, export release order is required for mills exporting sugar under AAS on tonne-to-tonne basis.

As per the notification, exporters are asked to upload details about quantity of sugar shipments through online facility to the Food Ministry within three working days. They are also asked to give details of physical exports. Till April, physical shipments of 1.6 million tonnes of sugar were undertaken. During the 2010-11 marketing year, physical exports had stood at 3.1 million tonnes.

India VIX, a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility lost 4.21% at 22.28 from its previous close of 23.26 on Monday. (Provisional)

The S&P CNX Nifty gained 31.75 points or 0.65% to settle at 4,939.55. The index touched high and low of 4,955.20 and 4,868.55 respectively. 33 stocks advanced against17 declining ones on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were Sesa Goa up 5.19%, L&T up 5.18%, Cairn India up 3.94%, Sun Pharma up by 3.64% and Sterlite Industries up 2.96%.(Provisional)

On the other hand, NTPC down 3.02%, Maruti Suzuki down 3.89%, IDFC down 1.98%, ITC down by 1.60% and ONGC down 1.17% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in green, with France's CAC 40 up 0.95%, Germany's DAX up 0.56% and Britain’s FTSE 100 up 0.32%.

Sentiments continued to remain bearish for yet another day in the Asian region with most of the indices snapping the day’s trade in the negative terrain on Tuesday, rattled by a political impasse in Greece that could lead the debt-stricken country to a destabilizing exit from the euro currency union. However, the fears of a Greek exit of the euro zone were offset by data late in the trading session showing Germany’s economy expanded more than expected. German gross domestic product grew by a surprise 0.5 percent in the first quarter in seasonally adjusted terms - well ahead of a consensus forecast, as exports helped the economy bounce back from contraction of 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Japanese Nikkei closed down 0.81 percent, although it pulled back from the lowest intraday level since the beginning of February in the afternoon session, with traders suspecting the Bank of Japan of purchasing exchange-traded funds to support the market, while Kospi Composite shares extended falls to a four-month intraday low on Tuesday, dropping below a key chart level as investors fled riskier assets on heightened concerns that Greece could be expelled from the euro zone. However, Hong Kong shares eked out gains today on strength in large caps such as Tencent Holdings and oil refiners that helped the benchmark index halt an eight-day losing streak which took it deep into oversold territory.