Markets soar to day's high; Nifty nears 5450 mark

After dilly-dallying in the morning deals, benchmark equity indices trading firmly are now near day’s high point on sustained buying activity by market-participants tailing mostly positive Asian counterparts. Local equity markets surprisingly continue to ride along the upwards trajectory despite a negative European markets start, which could temper market’s optimism in the later part of the day.

On the global front, European stocks fell, extending the biggest weekly drop in two months, before reports on euro-area consumer confidence and American home sales. However, Asian pacific shares are trading positive on Friday as economic data suggesting the global economy is improving took the edge off persistent fears that the U.S. Federal Reserve will start withdrawing stimulus next month.

Back on Dalal Street, trading with gains of over half a percent, Sensex is trading above the crucial 18,400 mark and Nifty is fast approaching the 5450 mark. Stocks from Consumer Durable, Banking and Capital Goods are majorly supporting this optimistic mood of the bourses, while those from Realty and Metal are bucking the positive trend. Nevertheless, there could be a reversal of trend as traders remain wary of foreign flows and rupee volatility at a time when overseas investors who had been net buyers of Indian stocks in 2013 sold a net $500 million worth of shares in the four sessions through Wednesday. Presently, the overall market breadth on BSE is supporting advances which are outnumbering declines in the ratio of 1155:829; while 129 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18424.50, up by 111.56 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 18434.18 and 18210.75. There were only 17 stocks advancing against 13 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were trading higher by 0.74% and 0.75% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Consumer Durables up by 2.67%, Bankex up by 1.60%, Capital Goods up by 1.40% and Auto up by 1.25% and Oil and Gas up by 1.17%. While, Realty down by 0.60%, Metal down by 0.46% were the top losers indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were, BHEL up by 5.91%, Jindal Steel up by 2.96%, ICICI Bank up by 2.63%, TCS up by 2.53% and ONGC up by 2.45%. On the flip side, Sterlite Inds down by 3.20%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.25%, NTPC down by 2.14%, Hindalco Inds down by 1.64% and Cipla down by 1.43% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, as a cause of worry, India's gold jewellery exports plunged by 70% year-on-year to $441.41 million in July on account of shortage of precious metal and limited inventory in domestic market. In July last year, the exports stood at $1.5 billion, according to the data provided by the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).

Further, gold medallions and coins exports have also witnessed a sharp decline of 63.3% to $112.83 million in July 2013 compared to a year-ago period. However, silver jewellery exports saw a robust jump of 184% to $109 million during the period under review. With this, the country's total gems and jewellery exports fell about 17 per cent to $2.49 billion.

The country’s exports fell mainly on account of shortage of precious metal, given that government had taken steps to curb gold imports. Marking the third increase in gold import duty, the government on July 13 hiked the customs duty on gold, silver and platinum to 10%

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,440.55, up by 32.10 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 5,449.25 and 5,377.80. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were BHEL up by 5.91%, Jindal Steel up by 3.05%, ICICI bank up by 2.74% , TCS up by 2.57% and M&M up by 2.29%. On the flip side, DLF down by 3.65%, Sesa Goa and Ultra Cement down by 3.08%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.38% and NTPC down by 2.36% were the major losers on the index.

The most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Nikkei 225 was up by 2.21%, Jakarta Composite up by 1.32%, Straits Times up by 0.15%, KLSE Composite up by 0.33%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.75%, while Hang Seng down by 0.06% and Shanghai Composite down by 0.41% were the losers amongst Asian pack.

European shares got off to a negative start; with CAC 40 declining by 0.67%, DAX sliding by 0.35% and FTSE 100 losing 0.36%.