Sensex, Nifty holds early gains

Indian equity markets opened on a firm note, recovering from yesterday’s unusual losses following positive cues from Asian markets and currently carrying its early gains into the late morning session amid sustained buying at several blue chip counters. The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 150 points, while the 50-share NSE Nifty jumped 45 points. In currency markets, Indian rupee trading positive against US currency, on the back of dollar selling by exporters and banks. On sectoral front, all were trading in green. Healthcare, capital goods, metal, bank and FMCG stocks were trading higher as investors accumulated shares after recent sharp losses. Auto shares erased some gains as the Finance Ministry slashed the rebates paid on certain types of exports. Through these rebates, Indian auto makers gets compensated a portion of local taxes paid for components used in vehicles, motorcycles or auto parts that are sold overseas. In global markets, Asian stocks bounced on Tuesday after yesterday’s downward journey as expectations of stimulus measures from China played out global growth concerns. Back home, the market breadth favoring positive trend; there were 1,543 shares on the gaining side against 941 shares on the losing side while 106 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,860.35 up by 151.37 points or 0.81% after trading in a range of 18,885.84 and 18,796.25. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.88% and Small cap index was up by 0.83%.

On the BSE sectoral space, CG up by 1.51%, HC up by 1.46%, CD up by 1.40%, Metal up by 1.30% and Bankex up by 1.06% were the top gainers. While, there was no loser on the sectoral space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were L&T up by 2.23%, Tata Power up by 2.22%, Sterlite Industries up by 1.99%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 1.83% and Sun Pharma up by 1.75%. On the other hand, Bajaj Auto down by 1.58%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.98%, Wipro down by 0.81%, BHEL down by 0.55% and NTPC down by 0.47% were top losers on the Sensex. 

Mean while, overseas direct investment by Indian companies fell by 30 per cent to $1.36 billion in September over the previous month, as per the RBI’s data on overseas direct investment, both under automatic route and the approval route, for the month of September 2012. The domestic firms invested a sum of $1.95 billion in August.

A total of 406 deals took place during September by the Indian companies to carry out the outward foreign direct investment. Meanwhile, companies namely Bharti Airtel, JK Cement, Dr Reddy's emerged among the major investors.

Telecom major, Bharti Airtel invested $150.02 million in it’s wholly- owned venture in Mauritius, which is involved in transport, storage and communication services. While, major cement manufacturer J K Cement made an investment of $104.30 million in its wholly-owned subsidiary in United Arab Emirates. Last but not the least, drug maker Dr Reddy's Laboratories invested $58.97 million in its wholly-owned company in Cyprus.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,721.15, up by 45.15 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 5,728.65 and 5,702.00. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were L&T up by 2.42%, Tata Power up by 2.32%, Ultra Cement up by 2.07%, Ranbaxy up by 2.04% and Sun Pharma up by 2.00%. While, Bajaj-Auto down by 1.76%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.05%, Wipro down by 0.90%, NTPC down by 0.67% and BHEL down by 0.57% were top losers on the index

Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Straits Times was down by 0.17%, Kospi Composite was down by 0.14%, Nikkei 225 was down by 1.06% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.31%. While Jakarta Composite up by 0.39%, Shanghai Composite was up by 2.01%, Hang Seng was up by 1.09%, KLSE Composite was up by 0.04%, were the gainers.