Markets strengthen further; CG takes the lead

Indian markets have strengthened further, slowly adding up to their gains; all the sectoral indices are trading in green, with Capital Goods along with rate sensitive banking taking the lead. The recoveries in the Asian markets have supported the sentiments at home. Though, the result announcements are keeping the markets buzzing with stock specific actions keeping the markets ticking. Anil Ambani Group companies Reliance Infra and Reliance Communication have surged on posting good set of numbers while the wind power major Suzlon is reeling in red on reporting a dismal numbers. Though, the company has given good EBIT guidance. The other factor that has been supporting the market is the strength in rupee for the second consecutive day.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,312.83, up by 95.01 points or 0.59%. The index has touched a high 16,342.96 and low 16,273.49 of respectively. There were 22 stocks advancing against just 8 declines on the index.

The broader indices gained some additional traction; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 0.70% and 0.86% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were CG up by 1.18, Bankex up by 1.03%, Power up by 0.98%, Metal up by 0.82% and FMCG up by 0.52%. While, IT down by 0.13 losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 2.24%, SBI up by 2.69%, Tata Power up by 1.79%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.54%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.47%, on the Sensex.

On the flip side, GAIL down by 1.87%, HUL down by 1.18%, ONGC down by 1.07%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.65 and TCS down by 0.41% were the major losers on the index.

Meanwhile, the rupee has been depreciating due to domestic as well as global factors and the Reserve Bank is taking measures to arrest the fall, said Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee. As per the FM, poor and fragile recovery in the international markets combined with high prices of oil and a rising fiscal deficit are pulling the rupee down.

Europe, which was an important destination for the Indian exports, is recovering though at an uncertain pace. Similar is the case with the US markets. Further, India’s fiscal deficit has been on the rise and is expected to be around 5.9% of the GDP for the FY’12. The combination of all these factors is leading to the depreciation in the rupee.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on its part has been taking steps to arrest this fall. Measures are been taken to curb speculation in the forex market and increase the inflow of foreign currency. The RBI is also considering the option of selling dollars directly to oil companies.

The rupee has been sliding down since March. However, the fall has been much steeper in the last fortnight. The rupee had hit an all-time high of 56.38 on May 24. It gained 27 paise on May 25, to close at 55.37. This was due to the intervention by RBI as the rupee breached the 56 mark in early trade of the day.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,950.90, higher by 30.50 points or 0.62%. There were 38 stocks advancing against 11 declines while on 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Reliance Infra up by 3.27%, BHEL up by 2.76%, SBI up by 2.27%, Tata Power up by 1.63%, and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.58%. 

On the flip side, GAIL down by 2.19%, ONGC down by 1.32%, HUL down by 1.12%, Maruti down by 1.06%, and BPCL down by 0.85% were the major losers on the index.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite eased 6.64 points or 0.28% to 2,340.19, Jakarta Composite got brutally lacerated by 176.53 points or 4.34% to 3,893.49 KLSE Composite inched down 0.64 points or 0.04% to 1,550.48 and Nikkei 225 fell 1.36 points or 0.02% to 8,579.03.

On the flip side, Hang Seng Index gained 90.84 points or 0.49% to 18,804.25, Straits Times Index added 13.14 points or 0.48% to 2785.31 and Taiwan Weighted rose 57.75 points or 0.82% to 7129.15.

South Korean markets remained closed on Monday for a public holiday on account of birthday of Gautama Buddha.