Benchmarks hold early gains; Capital Goods, Realty lead

Indian equities continued to trade in fine fettle on back of strong buying in frontline counters in the late morning session. Most of the Asian counters were trading in the green at this point of time on optimism of further monetary policy by Japanese central bank to support flagging growth in the world's third-biggest economy. Back home, the traders were seen piling up position in Capital Goods, Realty and Consumer Durables while selling was seen in IT and FMCG sector. Textile stocks such as Alps Industries, Century Textiles and Industries, Aarvee Denims & Exports, Hanung Toys and Textiles, Rajvir Industries, Alok Industries, JBF Industries and Vardhman Textile were trading in green as the government is expected to announce measures to boost India's exports on December 26, 2012. Essar Ports gained on reports that it is the sole bidder for the proposed mega-container terminal project at Chennai port, one of the 13 owned by the government. Bank of Maharashtra is trading under pressure despite the move to to raise funds up to Rs 1350 crore to augment the capital adequacy requirements of the bank. IndusInd Bank was trading in red after three block deals aggregating 32.75 lakh shares were executed on BSE. The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5,850 and 19200 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, in the ratio of 1250:820.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19293.42 up by 38.33 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 19321.41 and 19274.07. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.55% and Small cap index was up by 0.51%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Capital Goods up by 1.02%, Realty up by 1.01%, Consumer Durables up by 0.78%, Health Care up by 0.69% and Power up by 0. 63%. While, IT down by 0.31% and FMCG down by 0.13% were the only losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.99%, Sun Pharma up by 1.42%, Sterlite Industries up by 1.39%, Jindal Steel up by 1.38% and L&T up by 1.22%.

On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever was down by 1.12%, Hero Moto Corp was down by 1.10%, Wipro was down by 0.78%, Infosys was down by 0.37% and Coal India was down by 0.34% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, according to a report from Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), India's gems and jewellery outward shipments had witnessed a 3.7 percent drop at $2.78 billion in November. Earlier in October this year, the exports had witnessed a decline of about 20 percent.

Gold medallions and coins segments saw maximum decline of 35 percent, followed by coloured gemstones (21 percent) and gold jewellery (10 percent). Exports of these items stood at $2.89 billion in November last year. However, as per GJEPC, “There is some improvement in demand from the US market. But the European market is still weak which is hitting our exports”. In April-November this year, gems and jewellery exports declined 12 percent to $25.4 billion compared to the same period last fiscal.

Gems and jewellery exports sector, which employs 1.5 million people, constitute 17 percent of India's total exports. The major markets for the country's gems and jewellery include Europe, the US, the UAE and Hong Kong. 

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,866.90 up by 11.15 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 5,872.75 and 5,859.55. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were JP Associates up by 2.40%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.07%, Sun Pharma up by 1.45%, Asian Paint up by 1.44% and Jindal Steel up by 1.43%.

On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.22%, Hero Moto Corp down by 0.94%, Wipro down by 0.80%, TCS down by 0.65% and Infosys down by 0.57%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Jakarta Composite rose 12.75 points or 0.30% to 4,262.96, Nikkei 225 strengthened 95.66 points or 0.95% to 10,176.75, Straits Times surged 13.24 points or 0.42% to 3,181.85, KOSPI Composite soared 9.44 points or 0.51% to 1,991.47 and Taiwan Weighted was up by10.82 points or 0.13% to 7,646.41.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down 5.50 points or 0.25% to 2,208.11 and KLSE Composite down 0.22 points or 0.01% to 1,669.18.      

Hang Seng remained closed for trade today on the account of Christmas Holiday.