Benchmarks trade with traction on sanguine global cues

Although not near day’s high, benchmarks continue to trade with strength, tracing higher Asian counterparts, which edged higher after the two most important central banks in Europe surprised investors by assuring that they were in no hurry to wind down stimulus. Facing stiff resistance near 19,600 (Sensex) and 5,900 (Nifty) levels at the start of the trade, benchmarks continue to trade off that level, albeit with gains of close to a percent. Meanwhile, broader indices too gaining traction have picked up gains of 3/4th of a percent. Amidst across the board-buying, stocks from Realty, Metal and Oil & Gas counters are top performers. Further, even sugar stocks are adding to the positive milieu.  The stocks such Bajaj Hindustan, Renuka Sugars have surged on reports that the government has decided to raise the import duty on the sweetener to 15 per cent from 10 per cent currently. The move is aimed to discourage overseas buying amid a drop in local prices due to ample supplies. The overall market breadth on BSE in the favour of advances which have outnumbered declines in the ratio of 1186:667; while 124 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,594.46, up by 183.62 points or 0.95% after trading in a range of 19,640.27 and 19,532.13. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.98% and Small cap index was up by 0.77%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 1.79%, Metal up by 1.54%, Oil & Gas up by 1.48%, FMCG up by 1.45% and Capital Goods up by 1.40%, while there was no loser on the BSE sectoral space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Jindal Steel up by 2.66%, Hindalco up by 2.30%, Reliance up by 2.03%, Tata Power up by 1.99% and Sterlite Industries up by 1.80%. On the flip side, Gail India was down by 0.90%, Wipro was down by 0.64%, Coal India was down by 0.62%, Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 0.56% and ICICI Bank was down by 0.13% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) secretary Arvind Mayaram said that the government will be able achieve the fiscal deficit target of 4.8 percent of GDP in the current financial year even if the Food Security programme is implemented this year as it had already allocated Rs 77,740 crore for food subsidy in the budget estimates and has kept additional Rs 10,000 crore over the normal food subsidy, towards an incremental cost.

By adding further, Mayaram said that the finance ministry had already cleared that there are red lines for country’s fiscal deficit, which would never be breached and shall be maintained at 4.8 percent. Meanwhile, in the FY13, India’s fiscal deficit recorded at 4.89% of GDP, which was lower than the budget estimate of 5.2%, had been contained due to higher non-tax revenue and savings of non-planned expenditure.

Recently, the government has decided to implement Food Security programme to give nation's two-third population the right to get 5 kgs of foodgrains every month per person at highly subsidised rates of Rs 1-3 per kg. As per the food security bill, the programme will cost around Rs 1,25,000 crore annually for the government to supply around 62 million tonnes of rice, wheat and coarse cereals to 67 percent of the population. The scheme is likely to take at least six months to cover the entire country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,885.75 up by 48.80 points or 0.84% after trading in a range of 5,900.45 and 5,872.35. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were JP Associates up by 3.91%, IDFC up by 2.98%, Jindal Steel up by 2.49%, NMDC up by 2.47% and Hindalco up by 2.35%. On the flip side, GAIL down by 1.24%, Coal India down by 0.83%, M&M down by 0.44%, BPCL down by 0.25% and Lupin down by 0.22% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite rose 0.34%, Hang Seng surged 1.80%, Jakarta Composite jumped 0.35%, KLSE Composite increased 0.29%, Nikkei 225 soared 1.75%, Straits Times added 0.86% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 1.39%.

On the flip side, KOSPI Composite was down by 0.26%.