Bulls take late charge on Dalal Street

Indian equity benchmarks staged excellent  recovery and entered into green terrain to trade near intraday highs in last leg of trade with frontline gauges recapturing their crucial 37,400 (Sensex) and 11,250 (Nifty) levels. Sentiments turned optimistic with data showing that wholesale price inflation (WPI) for the month of April eased to 3.07 percent compared to 3.18 percent in March led by fall in prices of manufacturing products. Buying in telecom and energy stocks too aided sentiments. Appreciation in Indian rupee too soothed sentiments. The rupee trade higher against the US dollar on Tuesday amid weak global cues and rise in crude oil prices.

Firm opening in European counters too provided support to domestic markets. All the major European indices are trading in green at this point of time as comments overnight from Washington and Beijing helped soothe investor worries about a deepening trade row and defy a heavy sell-off on Wall Street. However, all the Asian counters are trading in red after China announced tariffs on about $60 billion worth of US goods in retaliation for the US decision to raise tariffs on about $200 billion worth of Chinese imports.

Back home, sugar stocks remained buzzing with report that sugar mills in India have achieved 2.8 million tonnes of the sweetener exports so far this season, 56 per cent of the cumulative 5 million tonnes of total minimum indicative export quota (MIEQ) allotted for the current season (October 2018 - September 2019). In scrip specific developments, Tata Motors surged on entering into partnership with Aaron Travels and HDFC edged higher on getting nod to raise Rs 1,25,000 crore via NCDs.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37466.20, up by 375.38 points or 1.01% after trading in a range of 36956.10 and 37479.04. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.79%, while Small cap index was up by 0.31%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 3.45%, Energy up by 2.03%, Utilities up by 1.49%, Power up by 1.48% and Oil & Gas was up by 1.33%, while IT down by 1.00% and TECK was down by 0.46% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 5.79%, Sun Pharma up by 4.98%, Vedanta up by 3.70%, Reliance Industries up by 2.78% and Indusind Bank up by 2.52%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 1.79%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.05%, TCS down by 1.03%, Infosys down by 0.90% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.83% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, breaking two-month rising trend, India’s Wholesale price index (WPI) inflation eased to 3.07% in the month of April 2019, as compared to 3.18% in March and 3.62% during the corresponding month of the previous year. The inflation softens mainly due to cheaper fuel prices, even as prices of food articles remained high. As per the data of Ministry of Commerce & Industry, WPI for All Commodities (Base: 2011-12=100) for the month of April, 2019 rose by 0.8% to 120.9 (provisional) from 120 (provisional) for the previous month. Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 0.75% compared to a build up rate of 0.86% in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Component wise, primary articles index having weight of 22.62% surged 3.3% to 139.2 (provisional) from 134.7 (provisional) for the previous month. Among the primary articles, the index for 'Food Articles' group increased by 3.4% to 150.1 (provisional) from 145.1 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ' Non-Food Articles' group jumped 2.6% to 126.7 (provisional) from 123.5 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Minerals' group soared 5.3% to 144 (provisional) from 136.7 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for 'Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas' group climbed 2.4% to 89.7 (provisional) from 87.6 (provisional) for the previous month.

Besides, the rate of inflation based on WPI Food Index consisting of ‘Food Articles’ from Primary Articles group and ‘Food Product’ from Manufactured Products group increased from 3.89% in March, 2019 to 4.95% in April, 2019. However, Fuel & Power index, having weight of 13.15%, declined by 0.5% to 102.8 (provisional) from 103.3 (provisional) for the previous month.

Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23%, remained unchanged at its previous month level of 118.3. Among the items in the group, the index for 'Manufacture of Wood and of Products of Wood and Cork' group dropped 1.5% to 133.6 (provisional) from 135.7 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Manufacture of Paper and Paper Products' group declined by 0.5% to 123.7 (provisional) from 124.3 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Manufacture Of Pharmaceuticals, Medicinal Chemical and Botanical Products' group declined by 1% to 124.4 (provisional) from 125.7 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Manufacture of Basic Metals' group decreased by 0.4% to 110.6 (provisional) from 111 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Manufacture of Computer, Electronic and Optical Products' group fell 0.3% to 111 (provisional) from 111.3 (provisional) for the previous month.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11263.70, up by 115.50 points or 1.04% after trading in a range of 11108.30 and 11267.90. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing up by 6.59%, Bharti Airtel up by 5.85%, Sun Pharma up by 4.71%, Vedanta up by 4.18% and GAIL India up by 3.60%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.95%, HCL Tech down by 1.62%, Wipro down by 1.47%, TCS down by 1.13% and Bajaj Auto down by 1.09% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets are trading in red; Nikkei 225 declined 156.68 points or 0.74% to 21,034.60, Straits Times shed 13.80 points or 0.43% to 3,220.48, Hang Seng dropped 428.22 points or 1.50% to 28,122.02, Taiwan Weighted slipped 28.53 points or 0.27% to 10,529.76, KOSPI dipped 0.70 points or 0.03% to 2,078.31, Jakarta Composite tumbled 73.50 points or 1.20% to 6,061.90 and Shanghai Composite was down by 10.36 points or 0.36% to 2,893.35.

European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC gained 36.63 points or 0.70% to 5,299.20, Germany’s DAX jumped 28.54 points or 0.24% to 11,905.19 and UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 50.77 points or 0.71% to 7,214.45.