Sensex, Nifty hovering around previous closing values

Indian equity benchmarks remained flat since early trade amid alternate bouts of buying and selling in blue chip stocks on the back of improved global sentiments. The benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty are currently hovering around their previous closing levels. In currency markets, Indian rupee appreciated against US currency in late morning trade on Monday amid constant dollar selling by exporters and some banks. On sectoral front, shares from metal, healthcare, consumer durables, PSU and automobile sectors were finding some support, while shares from capital goods, banking, information technology and FMCG sectors were mostly subdued. In global markets, Asian shares were trading mixed. Back home, the market breadth favoring positive trend; there were 1,365 shares on the gaining side against 1,033 shares on the losing side while 105 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,755.45 up by 5.80 points or 0.03% after touching a high of 17,810.90 and low of 17,731.75. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.44% and Small cap index was up by 0.58%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Metal up by 0.94%, HC up by 0.89%, CD up by 0.52%, Auto up by 0.25% and PSU up by 0.24%. While, IT down by 0.47%, Bankex down by 0.32%, TECk down by 0.21%, FMCG down by 0.21% and CG down by 0.19% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.81%, Sun Pharma up by 1.75%, Tata Steel up by 1.70%, Coal India up by 1.67% and Hindalco up by 1.59%.

On the flip side, BHEL was down by 1.73%, Jindal Steel was down by 1.45%, SBI was down by 1.16%, HUL was down by 1.11% and TCS was down by 1.10% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, share of agriculture in the gross domestic product (GDP) has declined by nearly 5% in the last 8 years. The percentage has been declining steadily with the passing of years. Agriculture & other corresponding sectors, which used to contribute 19% of GDP in 2004-05 has plunged to 14% in 2011-12.

The decline is as a result of comparatively higher growth in GDP of other sectors but, capital investment in the sector has shown improvement. The Gross Capital Formation (GCF) investment in agriculture sector (at 2004-05 prices) has augmented from Rs 69,148 crore in 2004-05 to Rs 1,30,907 crore in 2010-11.

The agriculture sector has shown signs of an average growth rate of 3.3% annually in the 11th Year Plan period ended March 31, 2012 as compared to 2.4% per annum during the 10th Year Plan. In UN's body, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), India contributed 2.3% share in world's total land area and 17.5% of world's population. Food grain production has also made an increase from 217.28 million tonnes in 2006-07 to 257.44 million tonnes in 2011-12.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,359.75, higher by 1.05 points or 0.02% and touched a high and a low of 5,375.45 and 5,350.40 respectively. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 1.85%, Coal India up by 1.73%, Sun Pharma up by 1.69%, Hindalco up by 1.68% and SAIL up by 1.66%.

On the flip side, BHEL down by 1.83%, Jindal Steel down by 1.45%, Axis Bank down by 1.38%, TCS down by 1.33% and HUL down by 1.29%, were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite was up by 0.14%, Jakarta Composite added 0.12% and Taiwan Weighted have gained 0.78%. On the other hand, Hang Seng lost 0.04%, KLSE Composite down by 0.11%, Nikkei 225 was down by 0.03%, Strait Times lost 0.01% and Kospi Composite was marginally down by 0.25%.