Markets continue positive trade amid choppy session

Indian equity markets continued positive trade amid choppy session on Wednesday. Investors remained cautious ahead of the results season, which kick-starts today. The selling pressure increased after the opening, following the pattern, which has been observed in the last few trading sessions. The Sensex is up 31.88 points, while Nifty is up 11.50 points. In currency markets, rupee continued trading positive against greenback on the back of capital inflows and persistent dollar selling by banks. On the sectoral front, auto stocks were trading lower, after domestic passenger car sales slumped 23% year-on-year to 1.8 lakh units in March, as per Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers report. For the full year (FY13), car sales slipped 7%, first such decline in a decade. FMCG, metal, PSU and consumer durables stocks were also trading weak. Select pharmaceuticals and capital goods stocks were up with modest gains, while IT stocks are trading firm.

On the global front, most Asian markets were trading higher on Wednesday, supported by Japanese market on account of weak yen, while Shanghai and Hong Kong traders digested a rare trade deficit for China in March. Back home, the market breadth was favoring negative trend; there were 746 shares on the gaining side against 1,144 shares on the losing side while 111 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,258.36, up by 31.88 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 18,382.26 and 18,220.47. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.29% and Small cap index was up by 0.40%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 1.10%, Teck up by 0.95%, Capital Goods up by 0.65%, Bankex up by 0.33% and Health Care up by 0.17% and while, FMCG down by 0.84%, Metal down by 0.44%, Auto down by 0.42%, Consumer Durables down by 0.39% and PSU down by 0.29% were the top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 2.46%, TCS up by 1.52%, Wipro up by 1.42%, L&T up by 1.33% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.00%.

On the flip side, ITC was down by 1.72% , Hindalco was down by 1.71%, Jindal Steel was down by 1.43%, Sterlite was down by 1.31% and ONGC was down by 1.27% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the textile ministry has asked cotton yarn producers to keep the prices low so as to ensure that various segments of the textiles industry, mainly the power-loom sector, are not impacted adversely. Similarly, Industry body, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has advised all cotton yarn producers to keep the prices low so that there is no need of intervention by the government. Textiles Secretary Zohra Chatterjee held a meeting of stakeholders on the problems being faced by the industry.

Recently, the council has asked the government to restrict cotton yarn exports and allow duty free imports. According to AEPC Chairman Sakthivel, increase in demand coupled with high cotton yarn prices have not only affected the garment sector, but also other sectors like handloom, power-loom, made-ups for domestic as well as export markets. Further, added that high cotton yarn prices have adversely impacted the selling prices of cotton fabric in domestic market resulting into inequilibrium in the whole textiles chain.

As a result of high cotton yarn prices, a lot of power-looms are also getting affected, leading to job losses. While cotton prices rose over 5 percent in the last two months, yarn prices have increased about 20 percent in the same period.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,506.60 up by 11.50 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 5,536.40 and 5,488.60. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HDFC up by 2.67%, Lupin up by 2.52%, Axis Bank up by 1.83%, Kotak Bank up by 1.82% and L&T up by 1.42%.

On the flip side, ITC down by 1.60%, ONGC down by 1.55%, Hindalco down by 1.49%, Jindal Steel down by 1.46% and Ultra Tech Cement down by 1.09% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Hang Seng rose 0.18%, KLSE Composite increased 0.18%, Nikkei 225 jumped 0.73%, KOSPI Composite added 0.77% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.31%.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 0.21%, Jakarta Composite slipped 0.49% and Straits Times was down by 0.39%.