Markets extend early gains; Sensex crosses 19,000 level

Following a firm opening, Indian equity markets extended early gains amid sustained buying across the counters. The Sensex was up by 153.92 points, crossing 19,000 level, while Nifty appears to stay in the 5,650-5,800 range. In currency market, rupee appreciated against greenback on Tuesday on the back of dollar selling by custodian banks and exporters. On sectoral front, all stocks were trading in green. Information technology, realty, automobile and oil stocks were among the prominent gainers. Meanwhile, Tata Motors strengthened its gains after the company increased prices of its sports utility vehicle range following the excise duty hike in the Budget. On global front, Asian markets recovered after a sharp fall amid slumping of Chinese stocks the previous session, as a globally accommodative monetary stance helped relieve concerns and revived risk appetite. Back home, the market breadth favoring positive trend; there were 1,333 shares on the gaining side against 1,024 shares on the losing side while 105 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,031.88, up by 153.92 points or 0.82% after trading in a range of 19,040.32 and 18,943.62. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.72% and Small cap index was up by 0.27%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Auto up by 1.38%, IT up by 1.30%, Realty up by 1.17%, Oil & Gas up by 1.13% and Bankex up by 0.94% while, there was no loser on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 3.66%, ICICI Bank up by 2.91%, Wipro up by 2.48%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.43% and Reliance up by 2.27%.

On the flip side, Bajaj Auto was down by 1.28%, NTPC was down by 0.74%, Bharti Airtel was down by 0.48% and ITC was down by 0.10% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister P Chidambaram at a meeting with India Inc has stated that India's fiscal deficit may be less than the provisional figure of 5.2% of gross domestic product for the 2012/13 fiscal year. However, he cautioned that current account deficit (CAD) is more worrying than fiscal deficit.

In the July-September quarter, CAD had touched a record high of 5.4% of GDP. Similarly, the trade deficit in January widened to $20 billion, the second highest rise ever in a month. The biggest trade gap of $21 billion was recorded in October, 2012. With the rising trend seen in trade deficit so far, CAD is expected to surge further for the third quarter as well, which will be out by the month end.

As per a report, large current account deficit is expected to persist as long as low growth continues on the global front, hurting exports and high liquidity. Further, raising the oil import bill, which is likely to persist till 2014.

However, going ahead some easing in the CAD is likely and it is expected to fall to 3.8% of the GDP in FY14 with statistical corrections and decline in coal and gold imports. The government has taken several steps over the last few months, to boost dollar inflows like de-regulating NRI deposit rates, relaxing ECB norms, increasing FII debt limits, liberalization of FDI and postponement of GAAR and higher duties on gold.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,755.55 up by 57.05 points or 1.00% after trading in a range of 5,756.60 and 5,722.40. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Tata Motors up by 3.74%, HCL Tech up by 3.29%, Ultra Cement up by 2.98%, ICICI Bank up by 2.91%, and JP Associates up by 2.79%.

On the flip side, Bajaj-Auto down by 1.39%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.66%, NTPC down by 0.57%, Power Grid down by 0.28% and Ranbaxy down by 0.24% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite surged 0.93%, Hang Seng rose 0.13%, KLSE Composite jumped 0.34%, Nikkei 225 increased 0.25%, Straits Times added 0.23%, KOSPI Composite moved up 0.24% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.83%.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 0.05%.