Indian equities trade higher buoyed by firm global cues

Buoyed by firm global cues, Indian equity indices have made a positive start with both the frontline indices surging by half a percent in Monday’s morning trade. The US markets closed marginally higher on Friday, though the earnings remained mixed but traders went for buying ahead of the weekend and helped the markets trim some losses of the week. Asian counters were trading mostly in the green led by Japanese Nikkei which surged nearly five-year highs in early deals, after a meeting of global finance leaders lent support to Japan’s aggressive monetary policy. Back home, sentiments also boosted after data showing that foreign funds remained net buyers of Indian stocks on April 18, 2013. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 940.07 crore on Thursday.

Key benchmarks regained their crucial 5,800 (Nifty) and 19,100 (Sensex) bastions, hitting their highest level in almost five weeks, supported by rally in rate-sensitive sectors such as banks, real-estate and auto which gained amid hopes that the central bank would ease monetary policy more aggressively next month to boost growth into the Asia’s third-biggest economy. Stocks from power sector too traded jubilantly in the early session as the government is likely to take a final decision on the blending of prices of imported coal and domestically-produced fuel or price pooling of coal. In scrip specific development, Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) gained after announcing a new discovery of natural gas in Mozambique however, Wipro slumped nearly 10% after the company said at the time of announcing Q4 results that it expects revenue from IT services business to remain flat on sequential basis in Q1 June 2013.

On the sectoral front, consumer durables witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by banking and capital goods, while software and technology remained the only losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were going neck-to-neck with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 917 shares on the gaining side against 434 shares on the losing side while 50 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 18,989.78; about 25 points lower compared to its previous closing of 19016.46, and has touched a high and a low of 19,144.47 and 18,989.78 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 19,112.23, up by 95.77 points or 0.50%. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 65.55% stocks advancing against 30.45% declines. The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices up by 0.71% and 0.71% respectively. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Consumer Durables up by 2.23%, Bankex up by 1.79%, Capital Goods up by 1.60%, Metal up by 1.19% and PSU up by 1.03% while, IT down by 2.03% and Teck down by 1.31% were the only losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 3.98%, HDFC Bank up by 2.52%, L&T up by 2.34%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.20% and Tata Steel up by 1.90%.

On the flip side, Wipro was down by 9.86%, Infosys was down by 1.80%, Dr Reddys Lab was down by 1.34%, Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 0.77% and ONGC was down by 0.76% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Indian economy, outpacing 6 percent expansion in developing Asia-Pacific economies, is expecting a growth of 6.4 percent in 2013. India's economic growth in 2013-14 will be better than 2012-13, but will be lower than the pre-crisis level, said Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C Rangarajan.

According to International Monetary Fund (IMF), Indian economy is projected to grow by 5.7 percent in 2013 calendar year. From a high over 9 per cent GDP growth for many years prior to the 2008 crisis, the economy grew 6.5 per cent in 2011-12.

United Nations' Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2013 said, 'Economic growth in the developing countries of Asia and the Pacific is projected to inch up to 6 per cent in 2013,'The CNX Nifty opened at 5,789.85; about 6 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 5,783.10, and has touched a high and a low of 5,833.45 and 5,789.80 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,823.85, up by 40.75 points or 0.70%. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were IndusInd Bank up by 4.34%, Coal India up by 4.02%, Axis Bank up by 2.95%, BPCL up by 2.66% and HDFC Bank up by 2.40%.

On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 1.94%, Infosys down by 1.83%, UltraTech Cement down by 1.77%, Dr Reddy's Laboratories down by 1.43% and M&M down by 1.05%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Hang Seng rose 8.10 points or 0.04% to 22,021.67, Jakarta Composite increased 2.50 points or 0.05% to 5,000.96, Nikkei 225 surged 269.11 points or 2.02% to 13,585.59, Straits Times jumped 4.35 points or 0.13% to 3,298.40, KOSPI Composite added 14.84 points or 0.78% to 1,921.59 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 40.44 points or 0.51% to 7,971.24.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 9.32 points or 0.42% to 2,235.32 and KLSE Composite was down by 0.18 points or 0.01% to 1,706.08.