Markets hold early gains amid strong buying

Indian equity markets remained on high note after a bright start this morning on strong global cues. Sensex maintained momentum by reaching 19500 level, though the Nifty was still to get to the 5900-mark. Investors were making strong positions on hopes that recent government moves like the diesel and the gas price hikes will auger well for the economy in the long run. Market sentiments were also buoyed by FII buying in local shares. In currency market, rupee depreciated against greenback amid increasing dollar demand from banks and importers. On sectoral front, realty and metal stocks were back in demand after recent weakness. Oil, capital goods, FMCG and power stocks were also trading notably higher. Select consumer durables stocks were reeling under pressure. Sugar stocks were trading higher on reports that the government has decided to raise the import duty on the sweetener to 15% from 10% currently. Meanwhile, among heavyweights, HUL surged to a record high after Unilever said it had acquired a little over two-thirds of the Indian unit following the close of a voluntary tender offer.

On the global front, most Asian stocks markets rose on Friday, after two of Europe's most important central banks surprised by assuring investors they were in no hurry to wind down stimulus. But markets were cautious as they waited for the US jobs report that could bolster or derail, the case for the Federal Reserve to start dialing down its asset-buying programme this year.  Back home, the market breadth was favoring positive trend; there were 1,192 shares on the gaining side against 686 shares on the losing side, while 128 shares remained unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,589.16, up by 178.32 points or 0.92% after trading in a range of 19,640.27 and 19,532.13. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.82% and Small cap index was up by 0.73%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Oil & Gas up by 1.56%, FMCG up by 1.29%, Metal up by 1.24%, Capital Goods up by 1.20% and Realty up by 1.19%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.04% was the only loser on the BSE sectoral space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Jindal Steel up by 2.64%, Reliance up by 2.30%, Hindalco up by 1.95%, HDFC Bank up by 1.85% and Tata Motors up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Coal India was down by 0.92%, GAIL was down by 0.75%, Bharti Airtel was down by 0.75%, Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 0.67% and Wipro was down by 0.17% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Indian business climate improved in June on the back of rising output of intermediate goods and cooling commodity prices globally. The 'BluFin Business Cycle Indicator (BCI)', which reflects various macroeconomic trends on a monthly basis, stood at 167.1 points in June, 5.6 percent higher compared to the same month of previous year, suggesting that Indian economy is growing at a faster rate than the previous year. The BCI index is based on components in four broad categories including foreign trade, capital market, policy and the real economy. 

As per the financial services provider BluFin’s reported that the intermediate sector continues to be a major contributor to BCI growth. It said that high production of aluminium, pig iron and copper and data on consumer demand indicate an economic expansion. Further, declining international commodity prices like copper, aluminium and gold have boosted the economy's growth, despite the major fall in rupee value, which has eroded a large part of the benefit.

Indicating a reversal in the economic slowdown since July 2012, BluFin expects that Indian economy would grow at 5.3% in the first quarter of financial year 2013-14.However, in past, the BCI has grown by an average of 7 percent year-on-year.

Earlier, the BluFin has reported that Indian consumers' confidence level rose in June on the back of easing inflation but concerns remained over job security. BluFin's Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) rose to 41.9 points in June, an uptick of 0.5 points over the previous month.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,890.05 up by 53.10 points or 0.91% after trading in a range of 5,900.45 and 5,872.35. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were JP Associates up by 3.82%, IDFC up by 3.18%, Axis Bank up by 2.55%, Bank of Baroda up by 2.55% and NMDC up by 2.55%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.25%, Coal India down by 1.15%, GAIL down by 1.05%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.56% and M&M down by 0.54% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite rose 0.28%, Hang Seng surged 1.63%, Jakarta Composite jumped 0.35%, KLSE Composite increased 0.23%, Nikkei 225 soared 2.08%, Straits Times added 0.83% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 1.37%.

On the flip side, KOSPI Composite was down by 0.32%.