Benchmarks continue to trade in green

After making a gap up start, Indian equities continued to trade in fine fettle on back of strong buying in frontline counters in the late morning session. On the global front, most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green, taking cues from the US markets and on speculation China’s economy may be stabilizing. However, the Bank of Japan may remain under pressure to add monetary stimulus after it expanded an asset-purchase fund. Back home, traders were seen piling up position in, CG, Metal and Realty sector. L&T, BHEL, Siemens, Pipavav Defence and Thermax from CG pack were seen trading in green. DLF, Unitech, HDIL, Oberoi Realty, Indiabulls Real Estate, Sobha Developers and Godrej Properties from Realty pack were seen trading firm in green.

Meanwhile, the telecom stock as Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications, MTNL were trading in green as the EGoM allowed the existing players to retain a maximum of 2.5 MHz in prime band spectrum of 900 MHz frequency band instead of the telecom regulator’s suggestion to switch to the 1,800 MHz band when their current licences expire, provided they pay a price which will be determined later through auction.

In the scrip specific development, Tata Motors rose on registering 6% growth in October sales.  Atul Auto zoomed on registering 32.22% jump in October 2012 sales. Wipro edged higher on reporting 24% rise in Q2 consolidated net profit. Hotel Leelaventure gained on inking pact with Supertech. Dabur surged on re-launching Vatika Shampoo range. Bajaj Auto soared on reporting 4% jump in October sales. Liberty Phosphate jumped on reporting 19% rise in Q2 net profit.  DLF rose on selling 17-acre land to Lodha Developers. The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5,650 and 18700 levels. The market breadth on BSE was positive, in the ratio of 1463:645.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18714.36 up by 152.66 points or 0.82% after trading in a range of 18749.07 and 18687.93. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.71% and Small cap index was up by 0.88%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CG up by 1.89%, Metal up by 1.32%, Realty up by 1.22%, Power up by 1.00%, and Auto was up by 0.95%, while, there were no losers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were L&T up by 2.32%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.02%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.72%, BHEL was up by 1.68% and M&M up by 1.62% while, Bharti Airtel down by 1.09%, HUL down by 0.35%, Tata Motors down by 0.09%, and Sun Pharma down by 0.04% remained the few losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, deferring decision on wheat MSP in the wake of inter-ministerial differences, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday approved up to 20 percent hike in the minimum support price (MSP) for five rabi crops for 2013-14, as recommended by the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP).

As per government statement, the case of wheat would be taken for further consultation, as no decision was made due to differences between the Finance and Agriculture Ministries on the issue. The CCEA approved MSP of 5 rabi crops including barley at Rs 980 per quintal, gram at Rs 3,000 per quintal, masur at Rs 2,900 per quintal, rapeseed/mustard at Rs 3,000 per quintal and safflower at Rs 2,800 per quintal.

The Finance Ministry opined that higher wheat MSP could lead to increase in food subsidy bill and widen the fiscal deficit, would lead to rise in prices. Moreover, the CACP recommended freezing of wheat MSP at last year's level of Rs 1285 per quintal and has recommended announcing 10 percent bonus to growers in case wheat export was banned.

However, the decision to refer the issue of wheat MSP back to the CACP came hours after finance minister P Chidambaram made a fervent plea to his Cabinet colleagues to help in the government's efforts to repair public finances.  Food ministry, further, added that any hike in the MSP of wheat would further increase the food subsidy bill by another Rs 4,000-5,000 crore. 

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,690.15, up by 45.10 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 5,697.70 and 5,682.55. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were L&T up by 2.45%, Bajaj-Auto up by 2.17%, Ambuja Cement up by 1.96%, Reliance Infra up by 1.96% and Sesa Goa up by 1.95%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.08%, Tata Motors down by 0.37%, HUL down by 0.30%  Sun Pharma down by 0.26%, and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.18% remained the top losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading mostly in the green; Kospi Composite was up by 0.41%, Nikkei 225 up by 1.09%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.43%, Straits Times was up by 0.65%, and Hang Seng was up by 1.30% while Shanghai Composite was down by 0.26%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.03% and KLSE Composite down by 0.53% were the losers.