Barometer gauges cool off from high point; continue to trade in fine fettle

Barometer gauges though have come off from intra-day’s level, but continue to trade in fine fettle underpinned by the upbeat background of European share market. Although buying witnessed is broad-based, however, stocks belonging from the Consumer Durable, Power and Bankex counters, have buttressed 30 scrip sensitive index - Sensex, to stay afloat above the 16,350 psychological level, with gains of over 0.75%.  Similarly, widely followed 50 share index - Nifty, too seems to be at striking distance of 5,000 crucial market. Broader indices, too have gained additional traction.

On the global front, European stocks prolonged their gaining trajectory for third consecutive session early on Monday as Greek opinion polls showing rising support for pro-bailout parties eased fears of a messy exit by Athens from the single currency. On the other hand, Asian stock markets exhibited mixed trend as investors weighed news of political progress in Greece, against Spain's deteriorating financial situation.

Closer home, stocks specific actions on account of earning announcements, kept markets busy. State run oil refiner Indian Oil Corporation, soared over 0.50% after exceeding Street expectations for the quarter ending March 31, 2012. India's biggest refiner has reported 224 per cent jump in net at Rs 12,670.43 crore in the fiscal fourth quarter against Rs 3,905.16 crore in the year ago period. Meanwhile, BHEL too taken off well on reporting 20.79% rise in fourth quarter net profit at Rs 3379.81 crore. On the flip side, shares of Oil India plunged over 1% after the company reported 21% dip in Q4FY12 net profit.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,350.39 up by 132.57 points or 0.82% after trading as high as 16,373.99 and as low as 16,273.49. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 declines on the index.

The broader indices, continued to trade on firm note; the BSE Mid cap index Small cap indices were trading higher by 0.88% and 0.71% respectively.

On the BSE sectoral space, Consumer Durables up 1.93%, Power up by 1.57%, Bankex up by 1.55%, Capital Goods up 1.47% and Auto up 1.21%, were the major gainers, while there were no laggards in the space.

State Bank of India (SBI)  up 3.43%, BHEL up 3.21%, Tata Power up 2.52%, Hindalco Industries up 2.33% and Mahindra & Mahindra up 1.87% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while Gail India down 2.50%, HUL down 1.57%, ONGC down 1.34%, Maruti Suzuki down 1.26% and Jindal Steel down 0.67% were the major losers in the index.

Meanwhile, the government is expected to take a decision regarding 32 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals on June 1, 2012. 19 are new proposals out of the 32, which include Sesa Goa, Pfizer and Mahindra and Mahindra. Three, are those which had been deferred in the earlier meeting and five are amended proposals. FDI request of G4S Secure Solutions, decision on which had been deferred in the previous meetings of the FIPB, will also be considered.

FDI in India is allowed through the automatic route in almost all sectors except those which are considered sensitive for the nation like defence and telecom. In these sectors permission has to be taken from Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

The government has been taking steps to increase the foreign investment in the country by streamlining its procedure. It has recently allowed FIIs to invest up to 23% in commodity exchanges through automatic route.

India received the highest ever monthly FDI in the month of March 2012. This was to the tune of $8.1 billion. Cumulatively, FDI inflows for the fiscal 2011-12 amounted to $36.50 billion. Apart from the fact that foreign investment in the country has been increasing, Indian companies too have been making their presence felt in the international markets. According to the latest RBI data, Indian companies invested $2.67 billion in different countries in April.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,962.60, up by 42.20 points or 0.86% after trading as high as 4,971.10 and as low as 4,971.10. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were BHEL up 3.48%, SBI up 3.43%, R Infra up 2.61%, Hindalco Industries up by 2.37% and Tata Power up 2.35%.

GAIL down 2.86%, BPCL down 2.08%, Maruti down 1.48%, HUL down 1.47% and ONGC down 1.38% were the major losers on the index.

In the Asian space, Shanghai Composite surged 1.19%, Hang Seng rose 0.47%, KLSE Composite inched up 0.25%, Nikkei 225 added 0.15%, Straits Times Index climbed 0.55% and Taiwan Weighted soared 0.91%.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite got pounded by 3.72%.

Stock markets in South Korea remained closed on Monday for a public holiday on account of Gautama Buddha’s birthday.

The European markets got off to a positive start as France’s CAC 40 surged 0.63%, Germany’s DAX gained 0.61% and United Kingdom’s FTSE rose 0.75%.