Benchmarks hold fort in green; Nifty hovers above 5500 mark

Benchmark equity indices are managing to hold their fort in green, albeit with slender gains in the early afternoon deals. However, the trend at D-street seems to be similar to one observed over the previous few trading session, where every rise is an opportunity to sell. Nevertheless, the positive opening of European counterparts, may aid Indian equity markets towards the end. European shares have opened higher as the US Treasury Secretary concludes a visit to the euro zone, a region that is increasingly witnessing a backlash against austerity and bailouts. Meanwhile, Asian pacific shares too have sustained their positive momentum after Wall Street closed at a record high overnight and Chinese trade data signaled a recovery in the world's second largest economy gathering strength.

Closer home, barometer 30 share index, Sensex trading a little above its neutral line, is oscillating near the 18250 level, with Nifty hovering a tad above the crucial 5500 bastion. However, broader indices underperforming frontline equity indices are trading with loss close to half a percent. Sectorally, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Metal and  Realty counters are the underperformers, while Information Technology, Bankex and Capital Goods space are keeping afloat the benchmarks gains. Additionally, Auto counter too is witnessing profit booking after domestic car sales slid 7% in FY13, registering their first fall in a decade. Sliding for the fifth consecutive month, car sales declined 22.51% to 180,675 units in March compared with 233,151 units in the same month last year. The overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of declines which are outpacing advances in the ratio of 1230: 821, while 120 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18241.72, up by 15.24 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 18382.26 and 18220.47. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 declines on the index.

The broader indices succumbed to selling pressure; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were trading lower by 0.44% and 0.46% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 0.95%, Teck up by 0.69%, Bankex up by 0.33% and Capital Goods up by 0.19% while, FMCG down by 0.79%, Metal down by 0.65%, Realty down by 0.60% and Oil & Gas down by 0.54% and PSU down by 0.52% were the top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 2.62%, Wipro up by 1.70%, TCS up by 1.51%, L&T up by 1.12% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.84%.

On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.37%, Sun Pharma down by 1.47%, Hindalco Inds down by 1.21%, Jindal Steel down by 1.13% and Sterlite Industries down by 0.86% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, registering fifth consecutive monthly decline, domestic passenger car sales declined 22.51% to 180,675 units in March compared with 233,151 units in the same month last year. With sluggish economic growth continuing to weigh on the demand in once booming sector, car sales dropped an annual 6.7% in the financial year that ended in March against the growth figure of 2.2% last year, marking their first fall in decade and thereby raising doubts on bullish growth expectations that fuelled billion-dollar bets from global manufacturers.

According to the data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), motorcycle sales declined 8.31% to 779,878 units from 850,637 units. Total two-wheeler sales declined 6.96% to 1101,058 units (1183, 425 units), while total sales of commercial vehicles also slid by 6.04% to 84,956 units from 90,416 units. Meanwhile, total sales of vehicles across categories registered a fall of 7.76% to 14,86,522 units in March 2013 against 16,11,525 units in the same month of 2012.

However, the only bright spot has been a rise in demand for sport utility vehicles (SUVs). Sales of off-road and crossover models registered over 50% over the past 12 months, providing incremental growth for some manufacturers. But, sales of SUVs and vans are not considered to be part of the passenger car figures released by SIAM. 

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The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,508.00, up by 12.90 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 5,536.40 and 5,488.60. There were 21 stocks advancing against 28 declines on the index, while a stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HDFC up by 2.91%, Lupin up by 2.03%, Axis Bank up by 1.98%, Infosys up by 1.39% and Kotak Bank up by 1.36%.

On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.06%, Jindal Steel down by 2.04%, Sun Pharma down by 1.79%, Reliance Infra down by 1.41% and Ultra Tech Cement down by 1.40% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Hang Seng rose 0.20%, KLSE Composite increased 0.20%, Nikkei 225 jumped 0.73%, KOSPI Composite added 0.77%, Shanghai Composite rose 0.13%, and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.31%.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite slipped 0.60% and Straits Times declined 0.39%. 

European shares have opened on a positive note; with CAC trading higher by 0.74%, DAX adding 0.55% and FTSE100 advancing 0.42%.