Markets continue positive trade; Nifty hold above 6100 level

Indian equity markets pared some early gains but continued trading in positive territory amid alternate bouts of buying and selling in front line counters. The Nifty was holding above 6100, while the Sensex was up by 13 points. Investors’ sentiments were boosted by firm trend in global markets amid easing worries about near term economic growth. In currency markets, Indian rupee depreciated against greenback in the late morning session on Wednesday amid increasing month end demand for US currency from importers and banks. On sectoral front, Oil stocks showed downtick after five sessions of holding up with Brent rising at $103.5. Information technology stocks remained the prominent gainers, while healthcare, FMCG, metal and PSU stocks were trading firm. Realty stocks have declined a bit on profit booking.

On the global front, some Asian stock markets rose on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei reached a 5-1/2 year high and stayed firm as the Bank of Japan stood pat after unleashing massive stimulus last month. Back home, the market breadth was favoring negative trend; there were 937 shares on the gaining side against 1,037shares on the losing side, while 126 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20,125.60, up by 13.99 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 20,220.35 and 20,125.47. There were 19 stocks advancing against 10 declines and one remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.01 point and Small cap index was up by 0.08%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, TECk up by 0.69%, IT up by 0.61%, FMCG up by 0.44%, Health Care up by 0.43%, and Consumer Durables up by 0.31%, while Realty down by 1.01%, Oil & Gas down 0.35%, Capital Goods down 0.24%, Bankex down 0.09% and Power down by 0.05% were the top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr Reddys Lab up by 2.11%, Sun Pharma up by 2.03%, Coal India up by 1.73%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.48% and Jindal Steel up by 1.10%.

On the flip side, HDFC Bank was down by 1.27%, Hindalco Industries was down by 1.22%, Gail India was down by 1.19%, Reliance was down by 0.68% and  HDFC was down by 0.58% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has started investigation into alleged cartelisation by oil marketing companies in fixing petrol prices to ascertain whether the pricing by companies is done in a particular manner.

Earlier, the fair trade regulator CCI had asked the Petroleum Ministry to find out that petrol pricing by companies is done in a particular manner under the guidance of the Ministry, as petrol prices are almost close to each other and they moved up or down at the same point in time. However, the petroleum ministry clarified that it was not responsible for petrol prices since it is deregulated.

The Director General, an investigation arm of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), is probing the issue. The CCI refers cases to the Director General only when it is convinced that there is prima facie evidence of violating competition norms.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,115.05 up by 0.95 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 6,147.60 and 6,114.95. There were 23 stocks advancing against 26 declines while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were DR Reddy up by 2.18%, Sun Pharma up by 2.12%, Coal India up by 1.67%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.53% and Jindal Steel up by 1.37%.

On the flip side, DLF down by 2.74%, JP Associate down by 2.47%, Ranbaxy down by 1.98%, GAIL down by 1.56% and Ambuja Cement down by 1.35% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Jakarta Composite increased 0.34%, KLSE Composite surged 0.94%, Nikkei 225 soared 1.70%, Straits Times jumped 0.40%, KOSPI Composite added 0.71% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.19%.

On the flip side Shanghai Composite was down by 0.10% and Hang Seng declined by 0.61%.