Markets continue positive trade amid volatility

Following a negative start and subsequent retreat, Indian equity markets continued trading higher in the late morning session on Friday. The BSE Sensex rose 52.44 points, while the broader Nifty was up by 17.45 points. Market sentiments were driven by the movement in rupee and foreign portfolio flows. In currency market, Indian rupee trimmed its early losses, and quoted higher by 21 paise against US currency amid dollar selling by some banks and exporters. On the sectoral front, power stocks were trading higher as the government has decided to allow power companies to pass on the costs of foreign coal to customers, which will boost imports and investment in power generation, but would bring higher energy prices to consumers. Shares of banking, consumer durable, healthcare, FMCG and metal sectors declined on sustained selling pressure.

On the global front, Asian stocks hit a fresh 9-1/2-month low on Friday as the US Federal Reserve's plan to scale back stimulus continued to worry investors. Back home, the market breadth was favoring positive trend; there were 1,033 shares on the gaining side against 907 shares on the losing side, while 132 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,771.73, up by 52.44 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 18,782.00 and 18,615.14. There were 20 stocks advancing against 9 declines on the index and one remains unchanged.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.11% and Small cap index was up by 0.38%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Oil & Gas up by 1.34%, IT up by 0.97%, TECk up by 0.94%, Power up by 0.79% and Auto up by 0.68%, while Metal down by 0.26%, Bankex down by 0.18% and Health Care down by 0.02% were the top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero MotoCorp up by 2.71%, ONGC up by 2.23%, Tata Power up by 1.42%, BHEL up by 1.28% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.26%. On the flip side, Jindal Steel was down by 2.93%, Sun Pharma was down by 1.69%, Hindalco Industries was down by 1.33%, HDFC was down by 0.96% and ICICI Bank was down by 0.80% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, with the rise in prices of food items and fuel, the inflation based on consumer price index (CPI) for agricultural labourers (AL) and rural labourers (RL) increased in May as compared to the previous month. The point-to-point rate of inflation based on the Consumer Price Index-Agriculture Labour (CPI-AL) and Consumer Price Index-Rural Labour (CPI-RL) rose to 12.70 per cent and 12.50 per cent in May from 12.32 per cent and 12.15 per cent in April, 2013.

The index varied from state to state and the index for agriculture workers recorded an increase which varied between 3 to 19 points in 19 states and a decrease of 11 points in one state. On the other hand, the retail inflation index for rural workers registered an increase between 2 to 20 points in 19 states and a decrease of 10 points in one state.

State wise, West Bengal registered the maximum increase of 19 and 20 points, respectively for farm and rural workers, on account of rise in the prices of food articles including rice, wheat, meat goat, fish fresh and ginger among others while, Bihar registered a decline of 11 points and 10 points, for CPI-AL and CPI-RL. Meanwhile, Karnataka topped the index table for CPI-AL and CPI-RL with 792 and 789 points, while Himachal Pradesh with an index level of 560 points and 592 points stood at the bottom.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,673.35 up by 17.45 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 5,673.35 and 5,616.85. There were 36 stocks advancing against 4 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 3.47%, ONGC up by 2.69%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.47%, Cairn up by 1.48% and BHEL up by 1.46%. On the flip side, Jindal Steel down by 2.84%, Sun Pharma down by 1.79%, ACC down by 1.53%, Bank of Baroda down by 1.50% and Hindalco down by 1.38% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite declined 0.33%, Hang Seng tumbled 0.14%, Jakarta Composite crumbled 3.19%, KLSE Composite dipped 0.50%, Straits Times dropped 0.40%, KOSPI Composite contracted 1.49% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 1.34%.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 up by 1.66% was the only gainer.