Sensex, Nifty pares marginal gains; Nifty above 5,350 level

After a smart up move in opening trades, Indian equity markets pared marginal gains and currently moving in a narrow range. The BSE benchmark moved up 71 points, while NSE benchmark up by 17 points amid alternate bouts of buying and selling. In currency markets, Indian rupee appreciated against American currency in late morning session on Tuesday as dollar selling continued by exporters and some banks. On sectoral front information technology stocks, which moved up smartly following the sector heavyweight Infosys winning a case filed by its employee in a US Court, are off their highs now. Pharmaceuticals, FMCG and oil stocks were trading mixed. Capital goods, bank and metal stocks were trading slightly weak. In global markets, Asian shares pared some early gains. Back home, the market breadth favoring positive trend; there were 1,291 shares on the gaining side against 1,143 shares on the losing side while 117 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17762.86 up by 71.78 points or 0.41% after touching a high of 17815.76 and low of 17705.14. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.02%, while Small cap index was up by 0.35%.

The top gainers on the BSE sectoral space were, IT up by 1.49%, TECk up by 1.15%, Auto up by 0.59%, Power up by 0.39% and Realty up by 0.35%, while CD down by 0.48%, Bankex down by 0.47%, Metal down by 0.45%, CG down by 0.23% and FMCG down 0.22%  were top losers on the sectoral space.

HDFC up by 2.24%, Infosys up by 2.07%, Cipla up by 2.03%, Tata Motors up by 1.68% and GAIL up by 1.19% were major gainers on the Sensex, while Hindalco down by 2.76%, Tata Steel down by 1.74%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.48%, HDFC Bank down by 1.13% and Coal India down by 0.81% were major losers on the index.  

Meanwhile, thanks to the drop in petrol prices at the pump, annual rate of inflation, based on the consumer prices index (CPI) in India, eased marginally in the month of July to 9.86 percent, however drought in parts of the country, which drove food prices higher, limited the downside. According to the data released by Central Statistics Office, provisional annual inflation rate based on all India general CPI (Combined) for July 2012 on point to point basis stood at 9.86 percent as compared to 10.02 percent for the previous month of June 2012. However, June consumer price inflation was revised lower to 9.93 percent from 10.02 percent earlier.

According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, which released the monthly provisional CPI on Base 2010=100 along with annual inflation rates for July 2012, all India provisional General (all groups), CPI numbers of July 2012 for rural, urban and combined were at 122.6, 119.9 and 121.4 respectively. The corresponding inflation rates for rural and urban areas for July came in at 9.76 percent  and 10.10 percent respectively as against June’s  9.65 percent  and 10.44 percent, respectively, which indicated that the rate of price rise rose in rural areas while that in the urban areas eased slightly.

In the backdrop of drought like situation, food inflation in the CPI accelerated to 11.53 percent in July from 10.71 percent in June. India has the highest retail inflation among the BRICS group of emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, China, and South Africa -- and is way above the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s comfort level. However, unlike most central banks, the RBI uses wholesale inflation in its policy formulation, as annual consumer price inflation data was only launched this year in January. Aided by lower increases in fuel prices, India’s wholesale price index (WPI) dropped to three year low of 6.87 percent in June, its slowest rate since January.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,383.85, up by 17.55 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 5,397.30 and 5,368.70. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were HDFC up by 2.33%, Infosys up by 2.23%, Cipla up by 2.06%, Tata Motors up by 1.98% and IDFC up by 1.88%. While, Hindalco down by 2.64%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.73%, Tata Steel down by 1.65%, Cairn down by 1.33% and HDFC Bank down by 0.99% were top losers on the index.

Asian indices were trading mixed;  Straits Times down by 0.14 points while Shanghai Composite up by 0.21%, Kospi Composite Index  down 0.16%, KLSE Composite was flat, and Taiwan Weighted up by 1.01%, while Nikkei 225 down 0.16% and  Hang Seng index down by 0.36%.

Jakarta Composite is closed till Wednesday, due to public and Idul Fitri holidays.