Indian equity add gains; Sensex hovers near 20,000 mark

Indian equity markets added further gains to continue firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline counters. Traders were seen piling some position in Realty, TECk and FMCG sectors while selling was witnessed in Metal sector. Telecom stock witnessed buying activity after Telecom Minister Kabil Sibal said that in the next three weeks the government will decide on pricing of the spectrum that will be sold in the second round of auction beginning March 11. The Supreme Court yesterday allowed mobile phone operators, whose permits were due to be revoked this week as per an earlier court order, to continue service until it hears the case next on February 4. Additionally, stocks from sugar space, namely, Shree Renuka Sugars, Bajaj Hindusthan, Balrampur Chini and EID Parry, continue to trade sweet after the government liberalized the procedure for exports of pharmaceutical grade and specialty sugar.

In the scrip specific movement, Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) is trading in green after HSBC upgraded the company to overweight from neutral, and modestly increased its profit outlook for the year ending March 2014. Also CLSA described the quarterly earnings as picture perfect and upgraded the stock to outperform from sell. HCL Infosystems’ was trading firm as the board of directors of the company have approved the business restructuring option recommended by the Finance Committee.

On the global front, all the Asian markets were trading in red barring Shanghai Composite and Nikkei 225 while the European markets were too trading on a pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,000 and 19,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1332:1411 while 148 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,992.87, up by 86.46 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 20,007.09 and 19,881.78. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 declines on the index.

The broader indices were too trading in green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were trading higher by 0.32% and 0.13% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 1.32%, TECk up by 0.91%, FMCG up by 0.85%, IT up 0.46% and Bankex up by 0.46%. While, Metal down by 0.21% was the sole loser on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 4.74%, ITC up by 2.23%, TCS up by 1.87%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.23% and ICICI Bank was up 1.08%.

On the flip side, Sterlite Industries down by 1.27%, Coal India down by 1.10%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.99%, Jindal Steel down by 0.78% and Sun Pharma down by 0.71% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, according to rating agency Moody’s, India and its neighbours Pakistan and Sri Lanka, are expected to stand out with higher fiscal deficit levels in 2013, while most of the countries in the Asia-Pacific will show improvement in their fiscal profile.

On India, it said that the extent to which GDP growth revives and yields higher tax revenue would determine the improvement in fiscal position of the country. Further, Moody’s stated that a stable investor base of domestic financial institutions and restrictions on capital investment abroad ensure the availability of domestic funding for government debt. Moody’s rating for India’s government bonds is Baa3, the outlook is negative.

For the Asia-Pacific, it said that the improvement in deficit levels and robust nominal GDP growth will help to maintain the downward trajectory of general government debt.  Further, it is expected to decline from a median of 42.7% of GDP in 2011 to 40% by end-2013.

Moreover, with the ongoing fiscal consolidation efforts in Asia-Pacific region, Moody’s said that the median fiscal deficit for the region was likely to improve to -2.6% of GDP from 2.8% in 2012, while the ratio had shot up to 3.9% of GDP for the region in 2009, at the height of the global financial crisis.

Remaining negative on India and its neighbours like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Japan, Moody’s said that all are expected to maintain fiscal deficits around double the region’s median with their general government debt levels might stay in excess of 60 per cent of GDP.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,055.50, up by 31.45 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 6,057.45 and 6,018.60. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 5.29%, Ambuja Cement up by 3.84%, Ultra Cement up by 2.75%, BPCL up by 2.37% and ITC up by 2.37%.

On the flip side, Sesa Goa down by 1.40%, HCL Tech down by 1.24%, Asian Paints down by 1.22%, Coal India down by 0.90% and Sun Pharma down by 0.79% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Hang Seng declined 0.14%, Straits Times dropped 0.61%, Jakarta Composite inched lower by 0.07%, KOSPI Composite decreased 1.16%, Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.75% and KLSE Composite too was trading down by 0.03%. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite surged 0.60% and Nikkei 225 soared 0.72%.

The European markets were trading in red with; France’s CAC 40 lost 0.07%, Germany’s DAX edged lower by 0.21% while the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.08%.