Sensex, Nifty trades marginally in red

Indian equities were trading marginally in the red in the late morning session while, most of the Asian markets were trading in the green on good economic cues from China and Japan.  The traders were seen piling up position in Auto, Realty and Capital Goods sector while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Consumer Durables and Bankex sector. Investment banker Morgan Stanley has raised India's FY13 GDP growth forecast to 5.4 per cent from 5.1 per cent, citing better-than-expected GDP growth for the September quarter.

In the scrip specific development, Thermax jumped 52-week high on bagging EPC contract worth Rs 503 crore.  M&M surged on reporting good November sales number. Mphasis soared on plan to acquire Digital Risk LLC for $175 million. Firstsource Solutions edged higher on getting nod for scheme of amalgamation. NALCO gained on raising aluminium prices by Rs 4,500.  JSW Steel rose on the plans of raising $600 million via overseas borrowings. Dalmia Bharat gained on getting nod for acquiring 26% stake in Calcom Cement India.

The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5,850 and 19000 levels. The market breadth on BSE was positive, in the ratio of 1250:877.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19321.15 down by 18.75 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 19416.45 and 19292.09. 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 0.77% and Small cap index was up by 0.57%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Auto up by 0.47%, Realty up by 0.43%, Capital Goods up by 0.40%, Metal up by 0.36%, and Power index was up by 0.27%, while FMCG down by 0.38% , Consumer Durables down by 0.34% , Bankex down by 0.22% and TECk down by 0.04% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 1.76%, M&M up by 1.40%, Tata Steel up by 1.27%, SBI up by 1.03% and Jindal Steel was up by 0.66%.

On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 1.29%, ITC down by 1.07%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.88%, Sterlite Inds down by 0.69% and NTPC down by 0.65% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, India’s wheat export is picking up pace in the last few months and also fetching good returns in the international market. The government is hopeful of ending FY13 with 20 million tonnes in stocks, same as the last year, despite a 9.8 million tonnes rise in procurement. This has removed the fears of huge losses that would have occurred as over 6 million tonnes of surplus wheat, which is stored in unscientific places from June. Further, the government is also focusing on to build the international brand of Indian wheat in the global markets by continuously exporting it.

Wheat prices in the world markets started firming up from August onwards because of drought in the United States, the world’s largest exporter and also low production in Australia, Ukraine, Russia and Argentina. On the back of strong response garnered by Indian wheat in global markets, the government is focusing on the idea of regularly exporting wheat from the central pool to build the Indian wheat as a brand in the global market. Off the 22 tenders floated by India to export 2 million tonnes of wheat from central pool since August, all of them, barring one fetched a price of over $300 per tonnes - the highest price of $324 per tonne.

The average price fetched by the wheat exported by government has been around $313 per tonne as against a base price of $228 per tonne.  India has managed to export almost all the wheat from the central pool at a price which is more than $300 per tonne. This clearly shows that Indian wheat is slowly commanding a premium in the international markets because of low global wheat production. High international prices for wheat export will enable the government to decrease export subsidy on wheat to less than Rs 500 crore in 2012-13.

On Nov 30, the government has agreed to allow export of another 2.5 million tonnes of wheat from the central pool over the already cleared 2.0 million tonnes of wheat export. Total 4.5 million tonnes of wheat will be exported from the central pool. The government should continue to export wheat from central stocks in small tranches which would establish India as a reliable player in the global grain market. However the government has also decided to offload around 7 million tonnes of wheat and rice in the domestic market.  

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,871.65, down by 8.20 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 5,899.15 and 5,862.30. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were UltraTech Cement up by 3.00%, Maruti Suzuki was up by 1.66%, M&M up by 1.29%, ACC up by 1.08% and Tata Steel up by 1.07%.

On the flip side, IDFC down by 1.76%, BPCL down by 1.55%, HDFC Bank down by 1.51%, ITC down by 1.21% and HCL Tech down 0.88% were the top losers on the Nifty.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Hang Seng was up by 0.07%, Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.09%, Nikkei 225 gained 0.53%, Seoul Composite gained 0.24% and Straits Times was up by 0.24%.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite was down by 0.28%, KLSE Composite down by 0.17%, Jakarta Composite was down by 0.14%.