Benchmarks add gains; Sensex surpasses 20,000 mark

Indian equity markets added gains to continue firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in front line blue chip counters and taking cues from European counterparts. The sentiments were on optimistic note after C Rangarajan, Chairman of Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India (PMEAC) stated that industrial output will pick up in H2FY14. He added that various reforms (easing FDI caps, regular petrol/diesel /gas price hikes, etc) taken by the Government to boost the economy and the sentiment around it, will reap benefits in the second half of FY14. On the macro-front, the annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, shot up to 4.86% (Provisional) for the month of June, 2013 (over May, 2012) as compared to 4.70% (Provisional) for the previous month, but the uptick was lower than expected. Traders were seen piling positions in FMCG, Realty and Health Care stocks while selling was witnessed in Power sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Kohinoor Foods was locked at upper circuit limit after the basmati rice producer decided to issue 70,48,306 equity shares on preferential basis to Abu Dhabi-based agri company Al Dahra International Investment (ADII) LLC at a consideration of Rs 160 apiece. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories was trading in green after CITI recommended buying the stock with an upside target price after launch of Dacogen.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in green barring Jakarta Composite while the European markets were too trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,000 and 20,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1169:915, while 124 scrips remain unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20,040.09, up by 81.62 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 20072.44 and 19883.19. The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were trading up 0.69% and 0.65% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, FMCG up by 1.02%, Realty up by 0.96%, Health Care up by 0.89%, TECK up by 0.84% and Capital Goods up by 0.80%, while Power down by 0.23% was the sole loser on the index.

Out of the 30 share, 19 stocks were advancing while 11 were declining while 1 stock remain unchanged on Sensex.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 3.08%, TCS up by 2.52%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.51%, Hindalco Industries up by 2.31% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.70%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.51%, Coal India down by 1.78%, Infosys down by 1.70%, NTPC down by 1.44% and Tata Motors down by 1.28%, were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, deviating from last three months of easing trend and adding to the woes of policy-makers, the annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, shot up to 4.86% (Provisional) for the month of June, 2013 (over May, 2012) as compared to 4.70% (Provisional) for the previous month and 7.58% during the corresponding month of the previous year. However, the rate of uptick was lower than expected. Build up inflation in the financial year so far, was 1.53% compared to a build-up rate of 2.30% in the corresponding period of the previous year. Meanwhile in a pleasant surprise, April inflation figures were revised downward to 4.77% from 4.89%.

Manufactured products, which carry weight of 64.97% in the index, rose by 0.1% to 149.3 (Provisional) from 149.1 (Provisional) for the previous month. The index for 'Food Products' group rose by 0.4% to 167.7 (Provisional) from 167.1 (Provisional) for the previous month. The index of Fuel & Power, which has weight of 14.91%, rose by 1.0% to 194.0 (Provisional) from 192.0 (Provisional) for the previous month due to higher price of light diesel oil and naphtha (3% each), non-coking coal, furnace oil  and petrol (2% each) and high speed diesel and bitumen (1% each).

The index of Primary Articles, having weight of 20.12% too rose by 1.4% to 232.5 (Provisional) from 229.3 (Provisional) for the previous month. The index for 'Non-Food Articles' group rose by 0.1% to 208.8 (Provisional) from 208.5 (Provisional) for the previous month, however the index for 'Minerals' group declined by 6.2% to 324.9 (Provisional) from 346.5 (Provisional) for the previous month.

Adding to the set of gloomy data, headline inflation edged higher after a surprise drop in industrial output, a fall in exports and higher retail inflation. However, core wholesale price index, or inflation that excludes volatile food and fuel prices, is estimated to have eased to 2% from an annual 2.4% rise in May, which may provide the central bank with some room to cut policy rates by 25 basis points in its policy review at the end of this month.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,028.35, up by 19.35 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 6,035.65 and 5,980.95. Out of the 50 share index, 29 stocks were gaining while 21 were on declining side;

Top gainers of the Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 2.78%, Cairn India up by 2.69%, JP Associates up by 2.67%, M&M up by 2.35% and TCS up by 2.18%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.68%, Coal India down by 1.77%, Infosys down by 1.69%, Tata Motors down by 1.62% and NTPC down by 1.47% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite surged 0.98%, KOSPI Composite up by 0.28%, Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.42%, KLSE Composite gain 0.06%, Hang Seng inched up by 0.12% and Straits Times was up by 0.04%.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite was the sole loser down by 0.59%. Japanese Nikkei remained shut for the trade today on account of public holiday.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 was up 0.76%, Germany’s DAX added 0.57% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 edged higher by 0.71%.