Markets erase early gains; healthcare stocks top gainer

Indian equity markets erased some early gains but were trading in positive territory in the late morning session on Thursday. The Sensex up 57.38 points, while Nifty up by 23.40 points. The benchmarks continued positive trade for third day in a row supported by massive buying by foreign institutional investors in Indian equities, on the back of easier monetary policy adopted by global central banks. Meanwhile, investors remained hopeful for a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India in its mid-quarter policy review in June, on the back of lower inflation data. In currency market, Indian rupee appreciated against greenback amid increased selling of the US currency by exporters and banks. On the sectoral front, rate sensitive stocks like, realty and bank were trading higher on rate cut hopes. Healthcare, oil and PSU stocks were also trading in green, while IT, FMCG and consumer durables were trading in red. 

On the global front, most Asian markets were trading in green, as Japan reported better-than-expected economic growth in the first three months of the year. Back home, the market breadth was still favoring positive trend; there were 1,120 shares on the gaining side against 469 shares on the losing side, while 96 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20,270.34, up by 57.38 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 20,326.48 and 20,162.12. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.57% and Small cap index was up by 0.21%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Health Care up by 1.64%, Oil & Gas up by 1.58%, Bankex up by 1.18%, PSU up by 0.93% and Realty up by 0.89% while, IT down by 1.21%, FMCG down by 0.90%, Teck down by 0.84%, Consumer Durables down 0.47% and Auto down by 0.23% were the top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr Reddys Lab up by 3.29%, Cipla up by 2.92%, SBI up by 2.08%, Reliance up by 1.78% and ICICI Bank up by 1.64%.

On the flip side, Infosys was down by 1.77%, ITC was down by 1.37%, TCS  was down by 1.21%, Jindal Steel was down by 1.12% and Tata Motors was down by 1.09% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, as per the global rating agency Moody’s, Indian economy’s is expected to expand within the range of 5.5-6.5 percent in 2013, however, cautioned that the Government's measures to incentivise new investments and savings have been relatively small in scope and the country is struggling to boost investments and economic growth due to the high inflation and the growth is projected to improve further to 6-7 percent in 2014.

The rating agency said in its report that despite the recent decline in wholesale price inflation, CPI inflation remains in double digits, which points to pricing pressures elsewhere in the economy. Although, GDP growth is likely to pick up during 2013, it will probably take at least another year or two before the economy matches the pace of expansion seen during 2010 and 2011.

Referring to the country widening current account deficit (CAD), the agency noted that the CAD remains a persistent concern for India as it leaves the country vulnerable to capital exodus if investors' risk appetite starts to wane. The CAD touched an all-time high of 6.7 percent of GDP in the third quarter of FY13.

Further it said that the probability of slower-than-expected growth in key emerging markets -China, India and Brazil is a serious concern to the global recovery.   

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,170.15 up by 23.40 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 6,187.30 and 6,128.25. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were JP Associates up by 3.56%, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories up by 3.28%, Cipla up by 2.92%, Grasim up by 2.36%, and Reliance Infrastructure up by 2.29%.

On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.76%, ITC down by 1.37%, Jindal Steel down by 1.34%, TCS down by 1.29% and NMDC down by 1.29% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite rose 1.05%, Hang Seng increased 0.20%, Jakarta Composite jumped 0.30%, Straits Times was up by 0.04, KOSPI Composite 0.79% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.84%.

On the flip side, KLSE Composite declined 0.69% and Nikkei 225 tumbled 0.39%.