Firm trade continues in the late afternoon session

Indian equities added gains to continue firm trade hovering near the highest point of day in the late afternoon session on the back of buying in front line counters. Investors are expecting that government would take some initiatives on reforms to offset concerns of a weak monsoon. The sentiment was also on optimistic note on account of petrol price hike of 70 paise per litre by state run fuel retailers, which sparked expectation that diesel price hike too would be around the corner. Beside investors also rejoiced on report that Oil Ministry is likely to approach Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for raising diesel and LPG prices. Traders were seen piling up position in FMCG, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas sector while selling was witnessed in Capital Goods, Health Care and IT sector. In the scrip specific development, Wipro was seen trading in red with cut of around two and half percent after the software major reported marginal fall in Q1 net profit.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading on a mixed note while the European markets were too trading mixed. The International Monetary Fund is set to stop aid payments to Greece, raising the odds that the nation will become insolvent as early as September. In addition, the euro area government debt rose to 88.2% of gross domestic product in the first quarter from 87.3% in the previous quarter. Besides, Moody's Investors Service lowered the outlook on Germany's triple-A rating to negative from stable due to mounting uncertainties from the euro-zone debt crisis. Moody's also downgraded the outlooks on Netherlands and Luxembourg and affirmed Finland's triple-A rating. On the home turf, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,100 and 16,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1241:1321 while 165 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex, after putting on 77.64 points or 0.46% was trading at 16,954.99. The index touched a high and a low level of 16,958.31 and 16,839.70 respectively. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 declines on the index.

The broader indices continued to trade with traction; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were trading with gains of 0.19% and 0.07% respectively.

The top gainers on BSE sectoral space were, FMCG up by 1.95%, Consumer Durables up by 1.19%, Oil & Gas up by 0.73%, Metal up by 0.54% and Bankex up by 0.37%, while Capital Goods down by 0.64%, Health Care down by 0.19%, IT down by 0.16% and TECk down by 0.08% were the only losers on the index.

Hindustan Unilever up by 7.37%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.25%, Sterlite Industries up by 2.96%, ONGC up by 1.23% and Jindal Steel up by 0.80% were top gainers on the Sensex, while Wipro down by 2.51%, Sun Pharmaceuticals down by 1.25%, BHEL down by 0.98%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.75% and L&T down by 0.69% were the major losers on the index.

Meanwhile, after two rounds of rate cuts last month, State-run fuel retailers have hiked petrol prices by 70 paise per litre, with effect from July 23 midnight. The marginal rate hike, which is in line with firming international oil rates, comes on the heels of UPA candidate and former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee wining the presidential poll and also after two successive reductions last month -- Rs 2.02 per litre on June 3 and Rs 2.46 a litre on June 29.

As a consequence of the upward revision, the hike in selling price of petrol shall vary from Rs 0.70/litre to Rs 0.91/litre depending upon the state taxes. Petrol in Delhi will cost Rs 68.48 per litre with effect from midnight tonight as compared to Rs 67.78 a litre now.

Latest increase in the price of petrol is triggered by the twin factors of crude and petrol prices rising substantially in global bulk markets as well as a further depreciation in the rupee's value against the dollar. Average price of Indian basket of crude is $101.28 per barrel while international petrol price is $111.59 a barrel. The Rupee-dollar exchange rate is around Rs 55.76 to a dollar.

Currently, PSU oil firms are losing Rs 10.01 per litre on diesel, Rs 27.20/litre on kerosene and Rs 319/cylinder on LPG.  This revision, however, strengthens the expectation of diesel price hike being around the corner, with the decision timing remaining in uncertainty.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,138.85, up by 20.40 points or 0.40% after trading as high as 5,140.80 and as low as 5,103.25. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 7.44%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.20%, Sterlite Industries up by 2.91%, Power Grid up by 2.24% and Sesa Goa up by 1.50%. While, Wipro down by 2.37%, SAIL down by 1.87%, Sun Pharmaceuticals down by 1.25%, L&T down by 1.15% and Tata Power down by 1.02% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices continue to exhibit mixed trend; KLSE Composite decline 0.13%, Jakarta Composite slid 0.55%, Nikkei 225 lost 0.24%, Taiwan Weighted skid 0.29% and Hang Seng index lost 0.79%, while Shanghai Composite gained 0.24%, Kospi Composite Index rose 0.25% and Straits Times added 0.53% were gainers on indices.   

The European markets were trading on a mix note with, France’s CAC 40 descended 0.15%, Germany’s DAX added 0.03% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 ascended 0.06%.