Sensex, Nifty continues trading firm

After a slightly shaky beginning, Indian equity markets has edged higher and currently trading with modest gains in late morning session. The BSE Sensex pared early gains marginally, while, NSE Nifty trading above the 5,700 level. In currency markets, Indian rupee appreciated marginally against dollar, as the American currency weakened against euro overseas. On sectoral front select stocks from automobile, banking and FMCG sectors were finding modest support. Power, information technology and healthcare stocks were slightly off their early lows. Meanwhile, Mahindra & Mahindra gained 1% ahead of second quarter numbers today. In global markets, Asian shares were trading mostly higher, as signs of recovery in China and the United States eased fears of deteriorating global growth. Back home, the market breadth favoring positive trend; there were 1,249 shares on the gaining side against 1,167 shares on the losing side while 127 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,748.71, up by 38.69 points or 0.21%. There were 18 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index and one remains unchanged.

The broader indices have given up their gains and were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.03%, while the Small cap index was up by 0.26%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil and Gas up by 0.60%, Metal up by 0.47%, Auto up by 0.22%, Bankex up by 0.09% and PSU up by 0.01%. On the other hand, Realty down by 0.66%, CG down by 0.22%, TECk down by 0.19%, HC down by 0.16% and Power down by 0.15% were the top losers on the BSE sectoral space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sterlite Industries up by 2.44%, HDFC up by 1.23%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.13%, M&M up by 1.05%, ONGC up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Dr Reddy’s down by 1.39%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.00%, Sun Pharma down by 0.77%, Infosys down by 0.68% and SBI down by 0.59% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in a hope to get rid of a threatening ratings downgrade and boost fiscal credibility, finance ministry is expected to pencil in fiscal deficit at 5.3 per cent for this year, which is seen improving at 3 per cent by 2016-17, in its soon-to-be-unveiled fiscal reforms blueprint.

Finance ministry officials are functioning overtime to safeguard that a widely anticipated fiscal slippage this year is minimal and not much beyond the budgeted 5.1 per cent that they contend could go a prolonged approach in satisfying international ratings agencies that have threatened a hillside of India’s emperor rating to junk status.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who has betrothed a 'credible and feasible path of fiscal correction', has been personally fine-tuning the proposed fiscal framework for the next five years that will be presented in the forthcoming winter session of Parliament.

Further, having shot a diesel price hike bullet which is expected to reduce ballooning subsidies burden, the finance ministry is now focusing on a three-pronged strategy comprising massive expenditure cuts, aggressive disinvestment, and large receipts from the sale of telecom spectrum to achieve the fiscal numbers.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,703.20, up by 11.80 points or 0.21%. There were 28 stocks advancing against 21 declines, while one stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Lupin up by 2.02%, Sesa Goa up by 1.38%, HDFC up by 1.26%, UltraTech Cement up by 1.16%, and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.13%.

On the flip side, PNB down by 1.47%, Dr Reddy down by 1.17%, Bank of Baroda down by 1.13%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.91% and Reliance Infra down by 0.79% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading positive; Hang Seng was up by 0.01%, KLSE Composite was up by 0.12%, Jakarta Composite gained 0.05%, Nikkei 225 surged by 1.13%, Straits Times was higher by 0.31% and Kospi gained by 0.55%.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite was down by 0.41% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.72%.