Markets extend early gains; Nifty crosses 6000 mark

Following a firm start, Indian equity markets have extended early gains tracking a surge in global markets after the US lawmakers agreed on a deal to solve the fiscal cliff crisis. The Sensex surged by 166 points, while Nifty crossed 6000 mark for the first time since January 2011, on the back of sustained buying in several front line stocks. An encouraging report on the country's manufacturing activity in December is adding to market momentum. The HSBC Markit India Manufacturing PMI, which gauges the business activity of India's factories, jumped to 54.7 in December from 53.7 in November, its biggest monthly rise since January 2012. In currency markets, rupee strengthened on increase in dollar selling by exporters and banks amid sustained foreign capital inflows. On sectoral front, all sectors were trading in green. Moreover, Automobile stocks Bajaj Auto and Hero Motocorp touched new yearly highs on impressive sales numbers for December 2012. In global markets, Asian stock markets started the new year in positive territory. Back home, the market breadth was favoring positive trend; there were 1682 shares on the gaining side against 861 shares on the losing side while 129 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19746.93 up by 166.12 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 19756.23 and 19686.50. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 declines on the index.

The broader indices too were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.85% and Small cap index was up by 1.07%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Capital Goods up by 1.42%, Consumer Durable up by 1.41%, Oil & Gas up by 1.35%, Metal up by 1.35% and Bankex up by 1.17%, there were no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 2.34%, Sterlite Industries up by 2.15%, Gail India up by 1.95%, HDFC up by 1.78%, Hindalco Industries up by 1.75%.

On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 0.40%, Wipro was down by 0.37% , Hindustan Unilever was down by 0.15% , Coal India was down by 0.14%  and ITC down by 0.10% were the losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, following a volatile price trend in the international market, the government slashed the import tariff value of gold and silver to $ 539 per 10 gm and $979 per kg, respectively.  A notification has been issued by the Central Board of Excise and Customs in this regard.

Apart from precious metals, the government has reduced the import tariff value of RBD palmolein and poppy seeds to $835 per tonne and $4870 per tonne, respectively. The tariff value, which is released fortnightly, is the base price on which the Customs duty is determined to prevent under-invoicing.

In April-October, gold imports declined 35 per cent year-on-year and overall imports are set to drop over 17 per cent to 800 tonnes this year. During December, the tariff value of gold was $550 per 10 gm, while silver was $1,062 per kg. Also RBD palmolein stood at $872 per tonne, while poppy seed stood at $5,346 per tonne.

In the international markets though the precious metals have shown a volatile trend in last some day but in the national capital they remained firm. Moreover, doubling of the excise duty to 4 per cent in the last budget and the curbs that the RBI imposed on the gold loan value and banning banks from funding gold purchase by loan companies have led to sharp drop in imports this year.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,004.25 up by 53.40 points or 0.90% after trading in a range of 6,005.80 and 5,982.00. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were JP Associate up by 2.94%, Punjab National Bank up by 2.55%, Sesa Goa up by 2.42%, BHEL up by 2.41% and Axis Bank up by 2.20%.

On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.46%, Wipro down by 0.45%, ITC down by 0.12%, HUL down by 0.08% and Coal India down by 0.07% were the top losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Hang Seng soared 2.17%, Jakarta Composite rose 0.73%, Straits Times surged 1.25%, KOSPI Composite added 1.71% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 1.04%.

On the flip side, KLSE Composite was down by 0.78%.

Markets in Japan and China remained shut for public holidays and will reopen on Friday.