Sensex, Nifty hold early gains on sustained buying

Indian equity markets continued trading higher on consistent buying interest across the board. Tracking global rally the BSE - Sensex was trading at one-week high while NSE - Nifty up by 49.85 points. In currency markets, Indian rupee erased early gains after opening higher against dollar, amid hopes of favorable policy decisions from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the European Central Bank (ECB) this week. On sectoral front all were trading in green. In global markets, most of the Asian shares were trading in positive territory mainly bolstered by expectations that the European Central Bank and Federal Reserve will infuse fresh reform measures, with France and Germany also supporting ECB Chief Mario Draghi’s resolve to get the euro-zone out of the crisis. Back home, the market breadth favoring positive trend; there were 1,446 shares on the gaining side against 876 shares on the losing side while 96 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,010.79 up by 171.60 points or 1.02% after trading as high as 17,037.24 and as low as 16,919.14. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 declines on the index.

The broader indices were also trading on a positive note; the BSE Mid cap index up 0.81% while Small cap index was up 0.71%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CG up by 1.94%, Bankex up by 1.79%, Power up by 1.77%, Realty up by 1.73% and HC up by 1.53%. While, there was no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 4.25%, Sun Pharma up by 2.78%, Tata Motors up by 2.54%, L&T up by 2.28% and Cipla up by 2.16%. While, Wipro down by 2.02%, TCS down by 0.88%, Hindalco down by 0.77%, Dr Reddys Lab down 0.12% and ONGC down by 0.04% remained the few losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has projected a rise in steel price by 7.2% this year due to constrained availability of raw materials and subdued demand, as the construction gathers pace after monsoon season. Albeit, the international prices of the alloy fell drastically due to unfavorable macro-economic environment.

Heavy demand from the user industries, firmness in domestic iron ore prices and a weaker rupee are the main causes of the price hike in domestic market. CIME expects that the price rise of iron might be at a modest pace during the July-September season as demand for steel usually weakens in monsoons.

It also expressed hopes that the supply of iron ore might improve with the starting of mining activity in Karnataka and expects 8.5% growth in finished steel production. Earlier in June, the finished steel prices had fallen by 0.5-1%, due to steep correction in international prices.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,149.70,up by 49.85 points or 0.98% after trading as high as 5,158.90 and as low as 5,129.75. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 4.17%, Cairn up by 3.41%, JP Associates up by 3.08%, Reliance Infra up by 2.79% and Tata Motors up by 2.68%.

On the flip side, Wipro down by 2.42%, Ambuja Cement down by 0.96%, TCS down by 0.84%, Hindalco down by 0.68%, and Kotak Bank down by 0.37% were top losers on the index.

Mostly of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Hang Seng index up by 1.34%, Nikkei 225 up 0.80%, Taiwan Weighted up 0.48%, KLSE Composite up 0.01%, Straits Times up 0.79%, Kospi Composite Index up 0.80% and Jakarta Composite was up by 0.39%, while Shanghai Composite down 0.18% was the only loser.