Benchmarks trade higher in early deals; Nifty re-conquers 5,850 mark

Indian equity indices, after witnessing steep fall of over a percent in previous session, have made a decent recovery on Monday morning trade. However, global risk appetite remained frail on concerns over US growth. US lawmakers tried to rescue stalled talks on Friday but there was little headway ahead of Christmas holidays. But, Asian markets giving some support to the domestic markets as most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the positive terrain at this point of time.

Back home, sustained buying in most of the key heavyweights along with broader indices supported BSE’s -- Sensex -- and NSE’s -- Nifty -- to regain their crucial 19,250 and 5,850 mark respectively. However, gains remain capped as the Plan panel has warned that persistent policy logjam could pull down the annual average economic growth rate in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) to 5-5.5 percent, from 7.9 percent recorded in the 11th Plan. Also, Chief Economic Advisor Raghuram Rajan has said that more painful decisions are needed to check deficit and diesel price hike and cut in subsidised LPG cylinders are only the first steps.

On the sectoral front, software witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by technology and healthcare while, oil and gas and capital goods remained the only losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were trading in-line with benchmarks while, the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1046 shares on the gaining side against 614 shares on the losing side while 73 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 19278.00; about 36 points higher compared to its previous closing of 19242.00, and has touched a high and a low of 19347.64 and 19277.95 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 19297.13, up by 55.13 points or 0.29%. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a positive start with 60.54% stocks advancing against 35.39% declines. The broader indices too were trading in-line with benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 0.42% and 0.41% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 0. 98%, TECk up by 0.89%, Health Care up by 0.70%, CD up by 0.50% and Realty up by 0.49%. While, Oil & Gas down by 0.29% and Capital Goods down by 0.22% were the only losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 1.31%, Sterlite Industries up by 1.24%, Sun Pharma up by 1.17%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.94% and Dr Reddys Lab up by 0.85%.

On the flip side, ONGC was down by 1.46%, Maruti Suzuki was down by 0.77%, L&T was down by 0.56%, Jindal Steel was down by 0.39% and HDFC Bank was down by 0.20% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, making a strong case for governance reforms so that quick decisions can be taken in the interest of the nation Finance Minister P Chidambaram said, ‘we must reform governance in this country. We must reform governance within the Parliamentary system. The Parliamentary system is in great stress.’

Concerned over the behaviour of Parliament members over the quota bill in the Lok Sabha he said, I think the gravest crisis that India faces is the challenge in the system of Parliamentary democracy. Elected representatives should take quick decisions and work towards nation building.

The statement comes a day after a Samajwadi Party member stunned the Lok Sabha by snatching the copy of the bill for quota in promotion from Minister V Narayanasamy and another member tearing it as a scuffle broke out when Congress chief Sonia Gandhi tried to retrieve the Bill.

With the regular happening of disruptions in the Parliamentary proceeding, previous Monsoon session was also a complete washout as stiff opposition over coal scam did not let Parliament function. Therefore, many important Bills could be cleared. Moreover, even in the current winter session, disruptions have led to the adjournments of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,869.00; about 21 points higher compared to its previous closing of 5,847.70, and has touched a high and a low of 5,871.90 and 5,856.20 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,860.35, up by 12.65 points or 0.22%. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 1.23%, Infosys up by 1.20%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.93%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 0.92% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.90%.

On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.51%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.91%, Kotak Bank down by 0.66%, L&T down by 0.64% and Bank of Baroda down by 0.63%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite surged 10.40 points or 0.48% to 2,163.71, Hang Seng rose 34.89 points or 0.16% to 22,541.18, KOSPI Composite moved up 1.35 points or 0.07% to 1,981.77 and Taiwan Weighted was up 3.62 points or 0.05% to 7,543.76.

On the flip side, KLSE Composite declined 3.32 points or 0.20% to 1,667.28 and Straits Times was down by 2.32 points or 0.07% to 3,161.24.

Japanese and Indonesian markets remain closed on Monday for public holidays.