Benchmarks pick-up momentum amid cautious trade

After a flat start, Indian equity markets picked up momentum in the late morning session amid stock specific buying. In currency markets, rupee continued its southward journey against dollar on Tuesday on the back of increasing demand for the American currency from oil importers and some banks. Meanwhile, with the parliament set to debate on FDI in retail issue and other crucial reforms, the mood is somewhat cautious at present. On sectoral front, oil, realty and power stocks were trading in green, while consumer durables, IT and FMCG stocks were trading in red. In global markets, weaker-than-expected US manufacturing report sent Asian stock markets down on Tuesday. Back home, the market breadth favoring positive trend; there were 1,488 shares on the gaining side against 1,022 shares on the losing side while 128 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,330.97 up by 25.65 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 19,359.49 and 19,274.03. 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 0.41% and Small cap index was up by 0.62%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Oil& Gas up by 1.03%, Realty up by 0.97%, Power up by 0.62%, PSU was up by 0.61% and Bankex up by 0.51%, while Consumer Durables (CD) down by 0.32%, FMCG down by 0.31%, Auto down by 0.26%, IT down by 0.16% and TECk down by 0.06% were top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 1.81%, BHEL up by 1.65%, Jindal Steel up by 1.64%, Reliance up by 1.39% and ICICI Bank up by 1.20%. On the flip side, M&M down 1.54%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.01%, Hindalco down by 0.89%, TCS down by 0.80% and ITC down by 0.73% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, fiscal deficit is expected to be around 5.5% of the GDP in the current financial year, as per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn. A high fiscal gap will create stress on the inflation front, which has remained sticky above the 7-percent mark for most part of the current fiscal.

The finance ministry also had recently revised its fiscal deficit target for the fiscal to 5.3% for 2012-13, 0.2% above the budget estimate of 5.1%. While addressing the meeting of the Indo-Swiss Chamber of Commerce, Gokarn said, ‘fiscal deficit is somewhere in the region of 5.5%. The government estimates that it will bring it to 5.3%.’

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,880.45, up by 9.50 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 5,886.95 and 5,862.25. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were JP Associates up by 2.36%, BPCL up by 2.06%, IDFC up by 1.86%, SBI up by 1.81% and Jindal Steel up by 1.61%.

On the flip side, M&M down by 1.70%, Ambuja Cement down by 1.43%, TCS down by 1.01%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.01% and Hindalco down by 0.98% were the top losers on the Nifty.

Most Asian markets were trading in red; Jakarta Composite was down by 0.82%, KLSE Composite down by 0.11%, Nikkei 225 declined by 0.27%, Seoul Composite was lower by 0.25%, Straits Times was down by 0.07%.

Hang Seng up by 0.19%, Shanghai Composite was up by 0.06% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.01% were the gainers.