Benchmarks escalate to intra-day’s high; Nifty nears 5750 mark

Benchmark equity indices have added strength as investors continued to cherry picking, with blue chips available at lucrative valuation post four days of drubbing. After making a flattish start, Indian equity markets continue to build on gains thanks to support from Consumer Durable, Bankex and Metal counters, amongst others, while positive global cues, too have added to the upside. On the other hand, Auto, Fast Moving Consumer Goods and Health Care counters have emerged as party poopers. Escalating to intra-day’s high, Sensex, was trading well above the psychological 19000 level, with gains of over hundred and fifty points, likewise, widely followed index Nifty, too gaining close to fifty points, was nearing the crucial 5750 mark. However, broader indices, underperforming frontline equity indices, were trading with modest gains. On the global front, Asian stock markets rose on Thursday, signalling approval of the US central bank’s message that it will keep interest rates at record lows despite recent signs of improvement in the world’s biggest economy.

Closer home, recent under-performers have gained, with ICICI Bank too clinching gains of over 5 percent after falling 9.8 percent in the previous four sessions. Additionally, Technology shares too gained on value buying. Nevertheless, gains in the markets are capped due to worries that the government will be forced to call early elections or see its reform agenda weakening after a key ally withdrew from the ruling coalition this week. The overall market breadth on BSE continues to be in the favour of declines which have piped advances in the ratio of 1353:1094, while 138 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19038.34, up by 154.15 points or 0.82% after trading in a range of 19042.53 and 18798.98. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were trading higher by 0.24% and 0.19% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 2.08%, Bankex up by 1.86%, Metal up by 1.48%, TECk up by 1.10% and Capital Goods up by 0.65%, while Auto down by 0.87%, FMCG down by 0.36%, Health Care down by 0.18%, Realty down by 0.11% and Power down by 0.03% were the top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 7.40%, ICICI Bank up by 5.28%, Jindal Steel up by 3.83%, HDFC up by 3.48% and Sterlite Industries up by 2.51%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.13%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.93%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.50%, ONGC down by 1.30% and NTPC down by 1.26% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Relieving apprehensions over the impact of the changing political scenario on policy reforms, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said there will be no let-up in the government's effort to continue with the economic reforms and it will go ahead for meetings with foreign investors to persuade them to invest in India. His statement came a day after key ally DMK withdrew support from the UPA Government over India’s stance on Sri Lanka at the United Nations.

Chidambaram said ‘it is true that one ally has withdrawn support. Still, the government enjoys majority and will continue to do its duty. The government will continue to take executive action to push legislation in Parliament.’  By adding further, he said that the government will not waiver in its commitment to bring down the fiscal deficit to 4.8% in 2013-14 from 5.2% estimated in the current financial year.

To convince investors to invest in India, Chidambaram is scheduled to meet foreign investors in major financial hubs like Japan, UAE, Canada and the United States in the coming weeks. The government is also planning to push through key economic reform Bills in areas such as insurance, pension and corporate law in the ongoing Budget Session. The first part of the session will end on March 22, and the House will re-assemble on April 22.

However, the government lacks numbers in Rajya Sabha after the withdrawal of support by DMK. With this, the government may have a tough time in taking up key legislations in the Lok Sabha, as well. The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,744.15, up by 49.75 points or 0.87% after trading in a range of 5,746.95and 5,670.50. There were 31 stocks advancing against 17 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 7.84%, ICICI Bank up by 5.19%, Jindal Steel up by 4.00%, HDFC up by 3.60% and Sesa Goa up by 2.34%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.06%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.98%, Reliance Infra down by 1.94%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.82% and Bank of Baroda down by 1.56% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite gained 0.10%, JKLSE Composite was trading flat with positive bias, Nikkei 225 surged 1.34%, Straits Times jumped 0.71% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.18%.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite declined 0.05%, Hang Seng down by 0.18% and KOSPI Composite was down by 0.30%.