Upbeat trade data pulls Indian benchmarks back into the green

Indian stock markets have clawed back into the green terrain in the early noon trades after lurking below the neutral line for most part of morning trades. The robust exports numbers for the July released by commerce ministry outweighed the disappointing weekly inflation numbers which had pulled the frontline indices to some extent in the late morning session as it showed that the annual rate of food inflation accelerated to 9.90% and the fuel price index climbed 12.19% in the year to July 30. The trade numbers released by trade secretary opined that India's exports in July rose an annual 82% to $29.3 billion, while imports grew 51% to $40.4 billion in the same month taking the trade deficit at $11.1 billion, which widened from $7.7 billion in June. Meanwhile, the enthusiastic opening in European markets which jumped in the range of 2%-3% on comforting comments from Societe Generale's CEO and France's renewed effort to trim its deficit eased fears over the euro zone debt crisis and underpinned domestic sentiments. Back home investors piled up positions in the oil and gas and the defensive - FMCG counters but the hefty profit booking in the rate sensitive pockets like Automobile and Real Estate was negating the upside chances for the benchmark indices. The index heavyweight Reliance Industries surged around one and half a percent in the session so far on reports that the company is planning to raise yet another $1 billion loan from the international market while one of its arm is planning to raise Rs 2,500 crore via 10-year bonds at 10.25 percent.

Meanwhile, the broader markets traded on a flat note but with a positive bias but were outclassed by their larger peers. The bourses gained on weak volumes while the market breadth on BSE was in favor of advances in the ratio of 1272:1256 while 128 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,183.53 up by 53.02 points or 0.31% after trading as high as 17,190.05 and as low as 17,012.95. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a flat note; the BSE Mid cap index added 0.03% and Small cap rose 0.21% respectively. 

On the BSE sectoral space, Oil & Gas up 80%, FMCG up 0.55%, Metal up 0.54%, Healthcare up 0.45% and PSU up 0.15% were the major gainers while Auto down 0.56%, Realty down 0.54%, Consumer Durables down 0.35%, TECk down 0.18%, Capital Goods 0.11% were the major loser on the index.

HDFC up 2.57%, NTPC up 2.14%, Hindalco up 1.70%, RIL up 1.50% and Sterlite up 1.36% were major gainers on the Sensex, while Tata Power down by 3.32%, Maruti Suzuki down 1.70%, Bharti Airtel  down 1.57%, Tata Motors down 1.01% and Bajaj Auto down 0.98% were the major losers on the index.

Meanwhile, the non-stop rate hike by the Reserve Bank of India has started showing its effect on the domestic passenger cars sales numbers, which during the month of July 2011 declined by 15.76% to 1, 33,747 units  as compared to 1, 58,767 units sold in July 2010. The overall growth in the passenger vehicle segment fell by 8.95% in July 2011. It fell to 13,48,753 units from  12,37,521 units in the July 2010.

According to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the overall domestic sales for April-July 2011 grew by 13.55%. However, in the month of July 2011 it registered moderation in growth rate and grew by 8.99%. During the April to July 2011 period, Passenger Vehicles segment grew at 4.03% over same period last year. Passenger Cars grew by 1.12 %, Utility Vehicles grew by 7.84 % and Vans sales grew by 25.42 % in this period.

The Commercial Vehicle segment registered healthy growth in July. It increased by 23.70% to 64,241 units in July 2011 from 51,934 units in July 2010.  During April to July 2011, the overall commercial vehicle segment showed growth of 16.56% as compared to the same period of last year. Whereas in April to July 2011, within the Commercial Vehicle segment, Medium & Heavy Commercial Vehicles (M&HCVs) registered growth of 6.40%, Light Commercial Vehicles grew at 25.64%.

The Two Wheelers sales recorded a growth of 12.61% to 10, 59,906 units from 9, 38514 units, whereas Three Wheelers sales registered decline of 3.13% in July 2011. During the April to July 2011, the Two Wheelers registered a growth of 15.79 % and Three Wheelers sales recorded a growth rate of 2.50% for the period under consideration.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,177.55, higher by 16.55 points or 0.32% after trading as high as 5,179.50 and as low as 5,121.00. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Kotak Bank up 3.86%, HDFC up by 2.82%, Siemens up 2.13%, R Infra up 2.03% and R Capital up 2.01%.

Tata Power down 3.62%, Bharti Airtel down 1.68%, HCL down 1.43%, Maruti Suzuki down 1.38% and DLF down 1.21% were the major losers on the index.

Asian markets traded on a weak note, Hang Seng slipped 0.67%, Jakarta Composite eased 0.14%, KLSE Composite shed 0.26%, Nikkei 225 declined 0.63%, Straits Times lost 0.01% and Taiwan Weighted dropped 0.22%.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite surged 1.27% and Seoul Composite climbed 0.62%.

The European markets traded on strong note as France’s CAC 40 surged 2.03%, Germany's DAX soared 2.74% and London’s FTSE jumped 2.27%.