Benchmarks add gains; Nifty above 5,900 mark

Indian equities added gains to continue firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in front line counters and taking cues from European counterparts. The markets were volatile from the early trade and sentiments remained on cautious note after global rating agency Moody’s revised its forecast, on the Indian economic growth, lower to 4.5 percent for 2013-14 from 5.5 percent projected earlier, on account of deteriorating macro-economic indicators of the country. Traders were seen piling positions in Auto, Capital Goods and Power stocks, while selling was witnessed in Metal, IT and TECK sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) was locked at upper circuit limit after it inked a pact with BSNL to share their infrastructure and provide joint services to corporate customers. Tech Mahindra was trading in green on reports that the software services firm has received technology off-shoring contract. Coal India was trading in red after Global activist group ‘Greenpeace India’ released its report accusing the state-run company of misleading its investors by understating its extractable coal reserves by 16% at the time of its 2010 listing which was a violation of Indian Stock Exchange rules.

On the global front, all the Asian markets barring Taiwan Weighted were trading in red while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,900 and 19,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1023:1075 while 144 scrips remained unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19956.66, up by 55.70 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 20050.42 and 19782.78. There were only 17 stocks advancing against 13 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.13% while Small cap index was up 0.04%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.21%, Capital Goods up by 1.17%, Power up by 0.81%, Consumer Durables up by 0.70% and Health Care up by 0.49%. While Metal down by 0.63%, IT down by 0.57%, TECK down by 0.56%, Realty down by 0.50% and FMCG down by 0.23% remained the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 2.45%, HDFC up by 2.43%, BHEL up by 2.31%, Tata Power up by 1.96% and L&T up by 1.79%. On the flip side, Hindalco Industries down by 3.01%, Jindal Steel down by 1.52%, Coal India down by 1.35%, Wipro down by 1.22% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.16% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, exerting pressure on the country’s trade balance again, India's crude oil import increased by 9.5 percent to Rs 3,47,432 crore in the April-August period of the current fiscal on account of sharp depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar. In quantity terms, India imported 81.50 million tonne (MT) crude oil during the reported period, up 8.82 per cent from 74.892 MT in the same period last year. India relies heavily on oil imports as it satisfies around 80 percent of the domestic demand.

Rising oil import bill is a serious concern for the country as it is already struggling with high current account deficit (CAD). Country’s CAD widened to a record high to 4.8 percent in the previous fiscal on account of high gold imports and crude oil prices. For this fiscal, Indian crude oil export is expected to rise to around 196 MT, from 184.79 MT recorded in 2012-13.

India also imported 6.36 MT of petroleum products, mostly LPG, in the first five months of the current fiscal. While, LPG imports stood at 2.4 MT, down from 2.8 MT during the same period a year ago. On exports front, India’s exported $24.404 billion fuel mostly diesel, petrol and naphtha in the reported period.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,906.15 down by 16.40 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 5,938.40 and 5,854.55. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were BHEL up by 2.74%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.54%, Tata Power up by 2.28%, HDFC up by 2.25% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.91%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 3.17%, BPCL down by 2.72%, DLF down by 1.73%, Jindal Steel down by 1.58% and HCL Tech down by 1.52% were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in red barring Taiwan Weighted which was up by 0.08%; while Straits Times down by 0.11%, Jakarta Composite down by 2.48%, KLSE Composite down by 0.33%, Hang Seng down by 0.82%, Nikki 225 down by 0.07%, Shanghai Composite down by 0.61% and Seoul Composite down by 0.11%.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 was up 0.33%, Germany’s DAX added 0.20% and UK’s FTSE 100 gained 0.10%.