Barometer gauges ascend to day’s high level; Sensex trades past 19,650 level

Barometer gauges have enlarged their gains on continued buying activity by funds and investors, however, a cautious start of European markets could limit the uptrend of the markets. Benchmark 30-share index and 50-share index, Sensex and Nifty, gaining over 3/4 of a percent are trading near day’s high level, which is above 19,650 and 5,950 levels respectively. However, contrary to the frontline indices, broader pivotal have pared their gains.

On the global front, European shares got off to a positive start with a late recovery on Wall Street on the previous day seen prompting some investors to buy beaten-down stocks, although trading is likely to be choppy ahead of US jobs data, which could shed light on whether the Federal Reserve will soon scale back its aggressive monetary stimulus.

Closer home, stocks from Information Technology (IT), Health Care and Oil & Gas counters were the major pockets of strength, while stocks from Consumer Durables and Realty were the only losers on BSE space. The overall market breadth on BSE is in favour of advances, which outnumbered declines in the ratio of 1182:907; while 132 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,666.99, up by 147.50 points or 0.76% after trading in a range of 19,711.55 and 19,424.97. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 declines on the index.

The broader indices pared some gains; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were trading up by 0.48% and 0.65% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 1.83%, TECk up by 1.26%, Health Care up by 0.76%, Oil & Gas up by 0.64% and FMCG up by 0.57%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.32% and Realty down by 0.03% were the losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr Reddys Lab up by 2.93%, TCS up by 2.86%, Wipro up by 1.77%, Infosys up by 1.38% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.28%.

On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.93%, Cipla down by 0.55%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.44%, NTPC down by 0.43% and Coal India down by 0.11% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Indian economy likely to recover in the next 3 to 6 months as a large number of the 215 stalled projects are expected to start rolling, Financial Services Secretary, Rajiv Takru said. While addressing an event, he said that ‘given the initiatives taken up by the Government in the recent past and the decisions to be taken in the next 1-2 months, the domestic economy will mark a significant improvement in performance in the next 3-6 months’. 

Rajiv Takru said that the Government had identified 215 infrastructure projects worth Rs 7 lakh crore which had been stalled at various stages of implementation owing to the various hurdles including administrative delays and environment clearances among others. Also, another 126 projects worth Rs 3.5 lakh crore that have been approved are yet to take off. By adding further, he said that the Government has set up a special group headed by an officer in the cabinet secretariat to look into each of the stalled projects. Further, many supply issues relating to coal and gas is being resolved.    

The Government has recognized the development of infrastructure as a most critical condition to boost economic growth. Thereby, for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), the Government has set the $1-trillion investment target for the infrastructure sector.  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,956.90, up by 35.50 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 5,972.70 and 5,886.60. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were TCS up by 3.09%, Dr Reddy's Laboratories up by 2.44%, Lupin up by 2.26%, BPCL up by 1.45% and Infosys up by 1.29%.

On the flip side, JP Associates down by 1.42%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.91%, UltraTech Cement down by 0.72%, Cipla down by 0.65% and DLF down by 0.49% were the major losers on the index.  

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite declined 1.36%, Hang Seng tumbled 1.19%, Jakarta Composite crumbled 1.63%, Nikkei 225 declined 0.21%, KOSPI Composite contracted 1.70% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.01%. On the flip side, Straits Times gained 0.07% and KLSE Composite was up by 0.34%.  

European markets got off to a cautious start; with CAC 40 trading flat, DAX adding 0.18% and FTSE 100 trading lower by 0.09%.