Firm trade prevails; Nifty above 5,550 mark

Indian equity markets continued its firm trade after touching the highest point of the day in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline counters. The sentiments were on upbeat mood on the back of 40-month low inflation data, which strengthened the case for rate cut in RBI’s May 3 Policy Review. In a big relief, the annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, eased to 5.96% (Provisional) for the month of March, 2013 as compared to 6.84% (Provisional) for the previous month and 7.69% in the corresponding period of the previous year. Traders were seen piling some position in Oil & Gas, PSU and Bankex sector stocks while selling was witnessed in Consumer Durables, IT and Auto sector stock. In scrip specific development, Jindal Steel and Power was trading in green after the company increased steel product prices by Rs 500-1500 in April, following hike in raw material cost and some duties. Tata Motors was trading in red after rating agency Moody’s stated that the company’s diminishing market share is credit negative. The company’s private vehicle market share has decreased to 11.8% versus 14.2% at the end of FY12. Infosys was trading in red for the second session in a row after reporting disappointing fourth quarter numbers and lower-than-expected guidance for 2013-14.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in red barring KLSE Composite while the European markets were too trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,550 and 18,300 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1174:943 while 130 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,319.43, up by 76.87 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 18,424.40 and 18,144.22. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were trading higher by 0.34% and 0.54% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Oil & Gas up by 2.48%, PSU up by 1.64%, Bankex up by 1.10%, FMCG up by 0.86% and Realty up by 0.74% and while, Consumer Durables down by 1.71%, IT down by 1.41%, Auto down by 0.92%, Metal down by 0.91% and TECK down by 0.79% were the top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 4.83%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.43%, SBI up by 2.38%, Reliance Industries up by 1.90% and L&T up by 1.52%.

On the flip side, TCS down by 2.34%, Tata Motors was down by 2.29%, Sterlite Industries was down by 2.20%, Coal India down by 1.52% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.35% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the government is planning to open All-Women Post Offices in rural areas - the first of their kind in the world as they would be completely operated and managed by women employees. This initiative is part of the government's objective to create opportunities for women in the country.

Telecom and IT Minister Kapil Sibal said, the Department of Post (DoP) has decided for women orientated branches where women will do jobs. The government will start the programme with urban centres and then slowly move to other areas. DoP has planned to set up at least three to four All-Women post offices in all the metros and a minimum of one such PO in Tier-II cities. These post offices will be opened up within next six months.

The DoP expects that by setting up All Women Post Offices, there will an increase in footfall of women customers at post offices and it will be able to promote thrift, especially among working women. There are 154,822 post offices in the country. Of these, 1,39,086 are in rural areas and 15,736 are in urban regions. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,559.35, up by 30.80 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 5,592.85 and 5,500.30. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were BPCL up by 5.74%, ONGC up by 4.84%, JP Associates up by 3.81%, Bank of Baroda up by 3.46% and PNB up by 3.20%.

On the flip side, TCS down by 2.67%, Sesa Goa down by 2.33%, Tata Motors down by 2.27%, Coal India down by 1.60% and Power Grid down by 1.37% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite declined by 1.13%, Hang Seng tumbled by 1.42%, Jakarta Composite dropped 0.64%, Nikkei 225 slumped by 1.55%, Straits Times slipped 0.23%, KOSPI Composite dipped 0.20% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.74%. On the flip side, KLSE Composite up by 0.14% was the only loser.

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 lost 0.88%, Germany’s DAX dropped 0.85% and United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 edged lower by 0.98%.