Equity markets continue to trade upbeat; Sensex gyrates around 23-week high level

Local equity markets, gyrating in vicinity of intra-day high level, continue to trade upbeat on sanguine global cues. 30 share barometer index, Sensex, sustaining close to century points gains, look increasingly close to 18,000 mark, while the widely followed 50 share index, Nifty, too  trading with gains of over 25 points, is hovering above the 5400 crucial level. Meanwhile, broader indices too are showcasing heartening moves, as both Midcap and Smallcap index, are trading with profit of over 0.40%. 

On the global front, Asian shares were trading jaunty tracing the overnight gains at Wall Street, after the minutes from the Fed's July 31-Aug 01 meeting released on Wednesday suggested the U.S. central bank is likely to deliver another round of monetary stimulus 'fairly soon' unless the economy improves considerably. Meanwhile, European stocks futures, brushing the weak Chinese manufacturing data, too were pointing a positive start.

Closer home, stocks from Information Technology (IT), Metal and Technology counters, emerged as the pillar of strength; however, stocks from Auto, Oil & Gas and Power counters, emerged as the only weak links to trade. FMCG stocks made the most out of reports highlighting revival of monsoon rains this month. FMCG firms derive substantial revenue from rural sales. Hinging with optimism HUL, Marico, Tata Global Beverages, Nestle India and Dabur India, which rallied in the range 0.50% - 2.50%. The Consumer Goods also were trading optimism on Credit Suisse report, which highlighted that FMCG sector is one of the few sectors with steady earnings growth, earnings visibility, and earnings upgrades, which should prevent a de-rating. Additionally, Realty stocks, namely, Valecha Engineering, Hindustan Construction Company, Jaiprakash Associates, IVRCL, NCC, IRB Infrastructure Developers, too gained traction after Finance Ministry decided to further ease the norms for raising external commercial borrowing (ECBs) by domestic firms.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,943.25, up by 96.39 points or 0.54% and touched a high and low of 17,955.20 and 17,856.29 respectively. There were 22 stocks advancing against 7 declining ones on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices managed to gain some more traction; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 0.44% and 0.56% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Information Technology (IT) up by 1.48%, Metal up by 1.38%, Technology up by 1.09%, Health Care (HC) up by 1.06%, and Consumer Durable (CD) up by 0.72% while, Auto down by 0.13%, Oil & Gas down by 0.09%, Power down 0.04% were the losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 2.22%, Tata Steel up by 2.15%, TCS up by 1.85%, Jindal Steel up by 1.55% and Cipla up by 1.50%.

On the flip side, ONGC down by 0.70%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.63%, L&T down by 0.59%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.55% and NTPC down by 0.38% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, after the recent announcements in annual supplement of the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP), the Centre has revised the apparel exports target to $18 billion, about Rs 99,000 crore from $17 billion, about Rs 93,500 crore for the fiscal 2012-13. The market-linked focus product scheme for apparel exports to US and European Union also has been extended till the end of the current fiscal. Also, the sops included interest subvention on pre-shipment credit.

The US and Europe together account for over 65 per cent of the country's total textiles exports. During 2011-12, India’s apparel exports grew about 18% year-on-year to $13.6 billion, while the government has fixed a $40 billion target for the entire textiles sector in the current fiscal.

Minister of State for Textiles Panabaaka Lakshmi has confirmed that the government has recommended continuation of the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) with an allocation of Rs 15,886 crore for the entire 12th Plan (2012-17), which is applicable for all the sectors including power-loom small scale industry.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,439.60, higher by 26.75 points or 0.49% and touched a high and a low of 5,443.85 and 5,424.60 respectively. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Ranbaxy up by 3.02%, Tata Steel up by 2.31%, Wipro up by 2.26%, TCS up by 2%, Cairn India up by 1.77%.

On the flip side, Powergrid down by 1.64%, Ambuja Cement down by 1.17%, ONGC down by 0.87%, ACC down by 0.78% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.67% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian markets were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite was up 0.18%, Hang Seng surged 0.98%, Jakarta Composite added 0.42%, Nikkei 225 shot higher by 0.51%, Straits Times advanced 0.66%, Kospi Composite jumped by 0.38% and Taiwan Weighted rose 0.11%. On the other hand, KLSE Composite was the lone loser, down by 0.04%.

European markets got off to an optimistic start; CAC 40 added 0.70%, DAX rose 0.75% and FTSE 100 gained 0.49%.