Indian equities add gains; IT, TECK and Bankex leads

Indian equity markets added gains to continue firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline counters and taking cues from European counterparts. Investors have started eyeing Q4 March 2013 corporate earnings season which will begin this week further providing the direction to the market. Infosys will announce its Q4 results on Friday, April 12, 2013. The government will also unveil industrial production data for February 2013 on Friday, April 12, 2013. Traders were seen piling some position in IT, TECK and Bankex sector stocks while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Metal and Oil & Gas sector stock. Auto stocks witnessed hectic activity after Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) stated that domestic car sales slid 7% in FY13, registering their first fall in a decade. Sliding for the fifth consecutive month, passenger car  sales declined 22.51% to 180,675 units in March compared with 233,151 units in the same month last year. In scrip specific development, eClerx Services was trading firm after the company’s board approved buy-back of shares up to 10%.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in green barring Jakarta Composite and Straits Times while the European markets were too trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,500 and 18,300 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 872:1310 while 114 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,331.67, up by 105.19 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 18,382.26 and 18,173.31. There were 17 stocks advancing against 12 declines while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The broader indices succumbed to selling pressure; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were trading lower by 0.22% and 0.37% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 1.60%, TECK up by 1.54%, Bankex up by 0.95%, Capital Goods up by 0.64% and Realty up 0.40% while, FMCG down by 0.57%, Metal down by 0.51%, Oil & Gas down by 0.15%, PSU down by 0.06% and Health Care down 0.03% were the top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 3.31%, Wipro up by 2.35%, L&T up by 1.65%, TCS up by 1.65% and Infosys up by 1.58%.

On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.99%, Sterlite Industries down by 1.83%, Jindal Steel down by 1.64%, ONGC down by 1.20% and BHEL down by 0.98% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, as per the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, India can get back to 8 percent GDP growth with improved infrastructure. While addressing an event, Ahluwalia said if the government concentrates 90% of its energy on delivering the infrastructure, on environment, we will be back to 8% growth much faster than what the people think today.

Further, stressing the infrastructure development a key for economy’s growth, he expressed the need for good infrastructure in the country and said that the government should mainly focus on its development. Moreover, on that the mega infrastructure projects, which are stuck due to regulatory clearances, Ahluwalia expressed hope that it will be resolved within 5-6 weeks. Currently, over 340 projects, including 125 new projects, are held up for some reasons. 

For the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), the government has set the $1-trillion investment target for the infrastructure sector. Moreover, the government has entered into the 'Public Private Partnership (PPP)' programme in order to bring in adequate resources for setting up of a sound and efficient infrastructural base.  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,531.90, up by 36.80 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 5,537.80 and 5,477.20. There were 30 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index, while 1 stock remains unchanged.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HDFC up by 3.39%, Kotak Bank up by 2.72%, Axis Bank up by 2.64%, HCL Tech up by 2.34% and Lupin up by 2.11%.

On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.05%, Jindal Steel down by 1.74%, Sesa Goa down by 1.47%, Ultra Tech Cement down by 1.28% and ONGC down by 1.28% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Hang Seng rose 0.75%, KLSE Composite increased 0.34%, Nikkei 225 jumped 0.73%, KOSPI Composite added 0.77%, Shanghai Composite rose 0.02% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.31%. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite slipped 0.61% and Straits Times declined 0.33%. 

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 added 0.86%, Germany’s DAX jumped 0.89% and United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 edged higher by 0.61%.