Benchmarks add gains; Nifty surpasses 6,050 mark

Indian equity markets added gains to continue to trade in green in the late afternoon session on account of buying in front line blue chip counters. The sentiments turned a little positive after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured the industry that government will leave no stone unturned to ensure a rebound while admitting that economy was going through a difficult period. Singh attributed the rupee decline to widening Current Account Deficit (CAD) and global factors and hoped that the steps taken by the Reserve Bank to arrest fall of domestic currency would be reversed with the easing of speculative pressure. Traders were seen piling positions in IT, TECK and Auto stocks while selling was witnessed in Bankex, Capital Goods and Power sector stocks. In scrip specific development, mid-sized IT services company Mindtree was trading in green after the company’s consolidated net profit rose by 52% for the first quarter ended June 30, 2013. Raymond and Indian Hotels Company were both trading in red after announcement of their exclusion from the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) derivatives segment.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in red while the European markets too were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,050 and 20,200 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 954:1170, while 133 scrips remain unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20223.26, up by 94.85 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 20,256.60 and 20,138.76.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices edge lower by 0.25% and 0.16% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 2.98%, TECK up by 2.50%, Auto up by 2.38%, Oil & Gas up by 0.84%, and FMCG up by 0.36%, while Bankex down by 1.62%, Capital Goods down by 1.59%, Power down by 1.53%, Realty down by 0.86% and Health Care down by 0.80% were the top losers on the BSE.

Out of 30 shares on Sensex, 16 stocks were advancing and 14 declining. The top gainers were TCS up by 4.99%, Bajaj Auto up by 4.61%, Hero MotoCorp up by 3.65%, Tata Motors up by 3.10% and Bharti Airtel down by 2.90%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 6.93%, Sterlite Industries down by 2.81%, Jindal Steel was down by 2.59%, Sun Pharma down by 2.48% and ICICI Bank down by 2.25% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in a bid to boost trade, Indian exporters urged government to take some measures including providing sops, bringing down transaction costs and implementing flexible labour laws. In a recent time, the exports have been hampered on account of weakness in Indian rupee and demand in key western markets like the US and Europe was already hit badly.

The association has appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene in the on-going rupee volatility, in order to re-motivate Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) business particularly the export related segment, especially, at a time when the rupee has been falling. Further, if India has to compete with the rest of the world, the government must amend the labour laws according to today’s economic scenario.

Exports declined by 1.41 percent to $72.45 billion in Q1FY14 as against the same period last year. However, imports during the period were up by 5.99 percent at $122.6 billion for the same period. Meanwhile, the country’s exports in 2012-13 declined 1.76 percent to $300.6 billion mainly on account of slowdown in the global economy. In 2012-13, India’s trade deficit had touched an all time high of $190.91 billion compared to $183.4 in the previous fiscal.

The rupee is continuously losing its sheen, declining 33 paise to 59.67 against dollar for the second day, after Fed’s comments strengthened the US currency and RBI could drain only a fifth of its Rs 12,000-crore target in an auction to curb liquidity.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,053.70, up by 15.65 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 6,066.85 and 6,027.00.

On Nifty, 25 stocks were advancing, while 24 stocks were on declining while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were TCS up by 5.21%, Bajaj Auto up by 4.63%, HCL Tech up by 4.33%, Tata Motors up by 3.38% and Hero MotoCorp up by 3.31%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 7.20%, IndusInd bank down by 4.72%, Ranbaxy Laboratories down by 3.60%, Axis Bank down by 3.10% and Sun Pharma down by 2.73% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite plunged 1.52%, Nikkei 225 declined 1.48%, Straits Times dipped 0.31%, Seoul Composite was down by 0.22% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 1.62%.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite jumped 0.06%, KLSE Composite added 0.45% and Hang Seng increased 0.08%.

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 was down 0.50%, Germany’s DAX lost 0.54% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 edged lower by 0.50%.