Markets erase some early gains; moving in positive territory

Following a firm opening, Indian equity markets erased some gains but remained in the positive territory in the late morning session on Monday amid sustained buying in several blue chip stocks from across various sectors. The Sensex trading up by 84 points, Nifty scaled above the 6,200 mark. Investors were making fresh positions in the market, on some impressive results from India Inc and expectations of further monetary easing by the central bank following the decline in wholesale price inflation. In currency markets, rupee depreciated against greenback, touching two-and-a-half-month low amid increasing month end demand for dollar from banks and importers. On the sectoral front, automobile stocks were the star performers this morning, mirroring hectic buying in that space. Metal, oil, realty and PSU stocks were among the other notable gainers, while healthcare and consumer durables stocks were trading weak.

On the global front, most Asian markets were trading in positive territory on Monday, tracking the positive cues on Friday from Wall Street where upbeat US economic data and comments from a Federal Reserve official boosted investors sentiment. Meanwhile, the South Korean stock market were trading in negative territory on geopolitical concerns. Back home, the market breadth was favoring positive trend; there were 1,126 shares on the gaining side against 882 shares on the losing side, while 112 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20,370.25, up by 84.13 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 20,443.62 and 20,277.76. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.42% and Small cap index was up by 0.42%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Auto up by 2.25%, Realty up by 0.88%, Oil & Gas up by 0.78%, Metal up by 0.74% and PSU up by 0.46%, while Health Care down by 0.65%, Consumer Durables down 0.48%, Bankex down 0.31% and Capital Goods down by 0.01% were the losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 3.02%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.99%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.84%, Bajaj Auto up 1.92% and Coal India up by 1.76%.

On the flip side, Wipro was down by 2.49%, Cipla was down by 0.94% , ICICI Bank was down by 0.91%,  HDFC Bank was down by 0.64% and ONGC was down by 0.46% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, expressing disappointment over the over Standard and Poor's (S&P) assessment, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) director general Chandrajit Banerjee said that the negative outlook affirmation by S&P for India’s BBB- status is unfortunate. CII’s director said that although the Government has taken lot of measures through the parliamentary system and also through notifications, which have clear directional value in terms of reforms, the rating by S&P appears to be harsh on India.

By adding further, Banerjee said that the Government has further taken strong measures in the Union Budget to boost economic growth and that India can move faster on the back of these reforms. Concerned over the widening current account deficit and the fiscal deficit, the CII’s president said that Indian industrial bodies are confident that the Government would do everything necessary to bring these deficits under control.

The rating agency has affirmed its 'BBB-' long-term and 'A-3' short-term unsolicited sovereign credit ratings on India. Further, the global rating agency said there is 1 in 3 chance of downgrading India rating in the next 12 months.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,204.20 up by 16.90 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 6,229.45 and 6,195.25. There were 30 stocks advancing against 18 declines while 2 stocks remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Tata Motors up by 2.98%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.94%, M&M up by 2.82%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.07%, and Coal India up by 1.85%.

On the flip side, Lupin down by 3.93%, Ranbaxy Laboratories down by 3.63%, Kotak Bank down by 1.37%, Cipla down by 1.20% and ICICI Bank down by 1.04% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite rose 0.85%, Hang Seng surged 1.69%, Jakarta Composite jumped 1.39%, KLSE Composite increased 0.43%, Nikkei 225 was up by 1.47% and Straits Times up by 0.04% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.11%.

On the flip side, KOSPI Composite dipped 0.22% was the only loser.