Barometer gauges oscillate near intra-day high; broader indices too allure additional traction

After getting a gap up-opening, barometer gauges gaining strength gradually are currently oscillating near the high point of day, in lieu of support rendered by defensive Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) space and rate sensitive counters viz., Realty and Bankex. Propped up by the Asian counterparts, barometer 30 scrip sensitive index, Sensex, after conquering the 16100 level, has currently pierced through the 16200 psychological level, while the widely followed 50 share index, Nifty, on NSE too is cheerfully trading above the 4900 bastion. The broader indices, too have accumulated gains of over a percentage points.

On the global front, Asian stocks mostly rebounded a day after salvage sell-off, which saw South Korean, Australian and Hong Kong stocks put in their worst one-day performance of the year. The US future indices, meanwhile, continued show an uptick in the screen trade.

Back home, bourses also rallied after investors were caught between bargain hunting after the recent sell-off, which saw availability of select blue chip stocks at a lucratively low level. Frontliners like ITC, HDFC, DLF, Bharti Airtel, Bank of Baroda, SBI, Axis Bank, SAIL, Hindalco, JSPL, L&T, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, PNB, Ranbaxy and HUL gained 1-2%.

Meanwhile, telecom stocks like Idea Cellular, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communication and MTNL too were ringing loud on report that the telecom regulator TRAI may be inclined to reconsider its recommendations on spectrum auction if the government asks it to do so. TRAI’s latest recommendations on spectrum auction proposes to keep Rs 3,622 crore as reserve price per unit of 2G spectrum, more than 10 times the cost of the same permits in 2008. The broader indices were going neck to neck with benchmarks. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1397 shares on the gaining side against 655 shares on the losing side while 92 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,225.83, up by 195.74 points or 1.22%. The index has touched a high and low of 16,240.18 and 16,104.64 respectively.   27 stocks on the Sensex were on advancing side, while 3 were on declining end.

The broader indices to enticed additional traction; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 1.17% and 1.01% respectively.

All the 13 sectoral indices were on gaining side, however, the top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, FMCG up by 2.75%, Realty up by 1.91%, Bankex up by 1.69%, Metal up by 1.60%, and Power up by 1.56%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 3.57%, DLF up by 2.97%, HDFC Bank up by 1.99%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.93%, and Tata Steel was up by 1.92%. On the flip side, TCS down by 0.24%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.21% and L&T down by 0.19% were the top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, blaming the tanking of stock markets on the ongoing Eurozone crisis and the inconclusive Greece elections, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has assured the country that there is no reason to press the panic button. He is of the opinion that the Indian market will soon insulate itself from the global crisis.

Replying to questions in the Rajya Sabha, Pranab stated that markets all over Asia had fallen due to the Eurozone crisis. Acknowledging that GDP growth in India had slowed down, Pranab said that various measures had been taken to restore GDP growth and India’s growth story was intact.

The stock markets on March 16 saw a plunge below 16,000 levels for the first time in four months. The dip came in as foreign investors pulled back their money on concerns of a depreciating rupee and a slowing economic growth. The rupee touched an all time low 54.46 as capital flowed out from the country and problems continued in bourses over the Eurozone crisis.

Moreover, S&P has recently downgraded the outlook on the Indian economy from stable to negative due to India’s widening fiscal deficit. It has also cautioned that there is a one in three chance of India losing its investment grade if the fiscal situation worsens. India is currently rated at BBB- which is just one notch above ‘junk’ status.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,913.25, higher by 55.00 points or 1.13%. The index has touched a high and low of 4,922.25 and 4,878.60 respectively.  There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were ITC up by 4.05%, Jindal Steel up by 3.05%, DLF up by 2.70%, Ambuja Cement up by 2.65% and JP Associates up by 2.64%.

On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.49%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.18%, HCL Tech down by 1.11%, L&T down by 0.75% and ACC down by 0.53% were the few losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite amassed 0.80%, Hang Seng Index ascended 0.90%, KLSE Composite climbed 1%, Nikkei 225 rose 0.54%, Straits Times Index gained 0.53%, KOSPI Composite Index advanced 0.63% and Taiwan Weighted surged 1.62%.

Stock markets in Indonesia remained closed on Thursday owing to a public holiday on account of Ascension Day of Jesus Christ.