Sensex, Nifty continue to trade in green

After making a muted start, Sensex, Nifty continued to trade in fine fettle on back of strong buying in frontline counters in the late morning session. Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red at this point of time as there was cautiousness across the region ahead of the US presidential election and China’s once-in-a-decade leadership change later this week, which is likely to see in the selection of Xi Jinping to succeed President Hu Jintao. Back home, traders were seen piling up position in, Realty, Power and IT sector while selling was witnessed in Auto, Oil and Gas and CG sector. DLF, Unitech, HDIL, Oberoi Realty, Indiabulls Real Estate and Sobha Developers from Realty pack were seen trading in green, while NTPC, BHEL, Power Grid Corporation of India, Tata Power, Reliance Power and Crompton Greaves from Power pack were in green. However, Auto majors - Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, Hero Moto Corp and Bharat Forge were capping the markets’ gains. Oil and Gas majors Reliance Industries, Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, and Petronet LNG too were pressurizing the markets.  

Meanwhile, Maruti Suzuki edged lower on reports that workers from the Manesar plant are planning a hunger strike and other peaceful protests to force the management to take back the 548 employees sacked after recent violence.

In the scrip specific development, BGR Energy Systems jumped on inking MoU with Government of Tamil Nadu. RBNL gained on launching ‘BIG Magic International’ television channel in Australia.  Amara Raja Batteries surged on plans of setting up manufacturing plant for two wheeler batteries. Cipla soared on reporting 62% rise in Q2 net profit.  JK Paper gained on plans to introduce high-end products. ONGC rose on plan to sell 26% stake in KG Basin block to Inpex Corporation

The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5,700 and 18700 levels. The market breadth on BSE was positive, in the ratio of 1174:915. The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18794.33 by 31.46 points or 0.17 % after trading in a range of 18812.53 and 18739.82. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.52% and Small cap index was up by 0.34%.The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 1.58%, Power up by 0.68%, IT up by 0.53%, TECk up by 0.50% and PSU up by 0.47%. While, Auto down by 0.29%, Oil and Gas down by 0.20%, and CG down by 0.01% were the few losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 3.04%, GAIL up by 1.70%, Jindal Steel up by 1.52%, Infosys up by 0.98% and HDFC up by 0.96%.

On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki was down by 1.61%, Hero MotoCorp was down by 1.31%, Hindalco was down by 0.92%, Dr Reddys Lab was down by 0.74% and RIL was down by 0.70% were the top losers on the Sensex.

 Meanwhile, India's steel exports rose by 5% to 2.367 million tonnes (MT) between April-September of the current fiscal as compared to the same period of previous year. The involvement of the non-alloy segment stood at 2.118 MT, while the remaining was from alloy steel, including stainless steel.

The total finished non-alloy steel exports, non-flat products stood at 0.176 MT and the flat basket was at 1.942 MT. Bars & rods and structural were the major contributors to the exports in non-flat segment. In the flat segment, HR Sheets, CR Coils and Galvanised Products were the biggest contributors.

India's steel exports were behind by 1% to 1.91 MT till the April-August period of current fiscal over the last year same period. India's total steel exports during the last fiscal stood at 4 MT, while imports stood at 68 MT. India’s steelmaking capacity in 2011-12 was around 90 MT, but actual production during the fiscal stood at 73.8 MT.

Steel, such as stainless steel, produced with some amount of alloying elements to impart specific properties is known as alloy steel. Non-alloy steel does not contain any alloy.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,714.10, up by 9.90 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 5,718.00 and 5,693.65. There were 30 stocks advancing against 18 declines while 2 stocks remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Cipla up by 3.10%, Power Grid up by 1.71%, Jindal Steel up by 1.60%, GAIL up by 1.54% and DLF up by 1.50%.

On the flip side, Maruti down by 1.57%, IDFC down by 1.41%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.30%, Hindalco down by 0.96% and Dr Reddy down by 0.85%, were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Kospi Composite was up by 0.62%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.31% and  Jakarta Composite up by 0.14% while Straits Times was down by 0.26%, KLSE Composite down by 0.84%, Hang Seng was down by 0.65%, Shanghai Composite was down by 1.50% and Nikkei 225 down by 0.53%.