Markets extend early gains; capital goods leading rally

Following a mild retreat, Indian equity markets extended early gains in the late morning session as buying resumed in several blue chip stocks. The Sensex gained 141.35 points, while Nifty was higher by 40.20 points. Investors were hopeful of some economic reforms and monetary easing in the near future. In currency markets, Indian rupee depreciated against dollar on the back of month and year end demand for the American currency. On sectoral front, capital goods stocks, which started off on a slightly subdued note, have moved up sharply and are among the prominent gainers. Several stocks from realty, power, consumer durables, oil, metal, bank and healthcare sectors too have posted strong gains. A few stocks from the automobile space were also trading firm, while information technology stocks were moving in a negative band. In global markets, Asian shares were trading higher in thin holiday trade, with investors focusing on the fate of US negotiations to avert a budget crunch looming at the end of the year. Back home, the market breadth favoring positive trend; there were 1,438 shares on the gaining side against 969 shares on the losing side while 126 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,396.44 up by 141.35 points or 0.73% after trading in a range of 19,408.30 and 19,274.07. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.76% and Small cap index was up by 0.60%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Capital Goods up by 1.51%, Realty up by 1.16%, Metal up by 1.02%, Power up by 1.00% and Bankex up by 0.98%. While, IT down by 0.12% was the only loser on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 2.85%, Sterlite Industries up by 2.35%, L&T up by 1.94%, Sun Pharma up by 1.84% and Baja Auto up by 1.84%.

On the flip side, Wipro was down by 0.84%, Hindustan Unilever was down by 0.73%, Hero Moto Corp was down by 0.68%, TCS was down by 0.29% and Coal India was down by 0.16% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Planning Commission of India has set a target for the pharmaceutical industry to reach $100 billion by 2020, and account for 5% share of the global drug industry in the next five years. Currently, the Indian pharmaceutical industry is valued at $22 billion and is the third largest in terms of volume and 13th in terms of value globally.

According to the final draft of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17) by the panel, the objective of the sector will be to cross the $60-billion mark in 2017, the exports of pharma products should rise to Rs 1.3 lakh crore by the end of the 12th Five Year Plan and it should employ 15 lakh people by 2015, 18.98 lakh by 2018 and 24.64 lakh people by 2022.

Final draft plan, which will be submitted to National Development Council on December 26, all the Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) involved in production of pharmaceutical products, should be self-sustaining by 2020.

In order to achieve the target, the planning commission has recommended various steps which include the capacity building of private sector to meet World Health Organization-Good Manufacturing Practice standards and other international manufacturing requirements. Other recommendations include developing a common infrastructure in drug discovery and development such as manufacturing, distribution, exports and medical devices.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,895.95 up by 40.20 points or 0.69% after trading in a range of 5,899.20 and 5,859.55. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 declines on the index.

The major gainers of the Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 3.05%, JP Associates up by 2.30%, Sesa Goa up by 1.92%, L&T up by 1.90% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.80%.

On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.07%, Wipro down by 0.86%, TCS down by 0.53%, Hero Moto Corp down by 0.40% and Infosys down by 0.35%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Jakarta Composite rose 0.19%, Nikkei 225 strengthened 1.49%, Straits Times surged 0.48%, KOSPI Composite soared 0.02% and KLSE Composite up 0.07%.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down 0.12% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.03%.

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