Benchmarks trade in fine fettle in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks have made a gap-up opening and are trading in fine fettle in early deals on Monday, with frontline gauges hovering near their crucial 30,300 (Sensex) and 9,450 (Nifty) levels. Sentiments remained up-beat with the consumer price index (CPI) inflation easing to 2.99 per cent in the first month of the new financial year compared with 3.89 per cent in March and 5.47 per cent in the year earlier. Also, the inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) slipped to a four-month low of 3.85 percent in April as both food articles and manufactured items showed cooling in prices. Traders shrugged off data of industrial output growth which slipped to 2.7 percent in March compared to 5.5 percent in March 2016, mainly on account of poor performance of manufacturing sector.

On the global front, Asian markets exhibiting mixed trend with Chinese markets, which started in green, losing some sheen after data showed China’s industrial production slowed, adding to concerns over the strength of the global economy.

Back home, power stocks remained buzzing, as India climbed up to twenty sixth position in World Bank's electricity accessibility ranking in the current year from 99th spot in 2014. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was strong, with 1,296 shares gaining and 705 shares declining, while a total of 94 shares were unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 30296.98, up by 108.83 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 30273.62 and 30357.96. There were 21 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.68%, while Small cap index was up by 0.59%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Basic Materials up by 1.41%, Metal up by 1.01%, Realty up by 0.90%, Bankex up by 0.67% and FMCG up by 0.53%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.71%, IT down by 0.45%, TECK down by 0.31%, Telecom down by 0.05% and Energy down by 0.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.75%, ICICI Bank up by 1.69%, Tata Steel up by 1.66%, ONGC up by 1.38% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.26%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 0.90%, Reliance Industries down by 0.90%, Wipro down by 0.71%, Cipla down by 0.67% and NTPC down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, after surging to nearly five-month high of 3.89 percent in March, India’s retail price inflation witnessed a sharp decline of 2.99 percent in the month of April to its lowest in at least five years, due to lower cost of food items, including pulses and vegetables that showed a deflationary trend. The consumer price index (CPI) inflation stood at 5.47 percent in April 2016. The CPI based retail inflation for March 2017 was revised slightly upwards to 3.89 percent, from 3.81 percent recorded previously.

As per the data of the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) (Rural, Urban, Combined) on Base 2012=100, for April 2017, stood at 3.02 percent, 3.03 percent and 2.99 percent respectively compared to 6.17 percent 4.68 percent 5.47 percent respectively in April 2016. The index value for CPI (General) for Rural was 132.9, for Urban was 129.1 and for combined stood at 131.1 for the month of April.

The data also showed that Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) for all India Rural, Urban and Combined for April 2017 dropped to 0.69 percent 0.46 percent and 0.61 percent respectively compared to 1.85 percent, 2.42 percent, 2.01 percent respectively in March 2017 and 6.66 percent 5.97 percent and 6.40 percent in April 2016.

As per the data, Pulses and products recorded a sharp fall in prices in April, with a deflation of 15.94 percent against (-) 12.42 percent in March, while vegetable prices fell by 8.59 percent against (-) 7.24 percent in March. In the fuel and light category, the inflation reading in April stood at 6.13 percent, higher than 5.56 percent in March. Further, Price of fruits grew at 3.78 percent in April, slower than 9.35 percent in March. For cereals and products, the rate of price rise in April, at 5.06 percent, was lower than 5.38 percent in the previous month. For meat and fish, the inflation print came in at 1.90 percent during the reported month, from 2.96 percent in March.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9435.75, up by 34.85 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 9423.10 and 9443.55. There were 32 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.19%, Grasim Industries up by 2.01%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.00%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.89% and Hindalco up by 1.88%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.02%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 1.01%, Reliance Industries down by 0.99%, Cipla down by 0.92% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.88% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; KOSPI Index rose 2.69 points or 0.12% to 2,288.71, Shanghai Composite gained 8.77 points or 0.28% to 3,092.28, Taiwan Weighted increased 13.7 points or 0.14% to 10,000.52 and Hang Seng was up by 145.16 points or 0.58% to 25,301.50.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 decreased 23.44 points or 0.12% to 19,860.46, Jakarta Composite dropped 14.2 points or 0.25% to 5,661.02 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 2.52 points or 0.14% to 1,773.35.