Markets get a positive start after two days of plunge

Markets are sensing some respite with a positive start on Friday morning after two straight days of plunge, both the benchmarks are trading above their psychological levels of 20300 (Sensex) and 6000 (Nifty), tailing good global cues.The US markets moved higher overnight on getting better than expected jobless claims data and as traders gave second thought to the Fed’s tapering plans, the Asian markets too were mostly in green. Back home, though the trepidation was still continuing in the market as the rupee weakened further on reports that after 33 days of continuous FII inflows there was slight outflow in last session. However, traders were taking support from Finance minister P Chidambaram’s statement that the annual headline inflation is expected to moderate to near 5 percent, as there was reasonable price stability in some major commodities. Finance Minister has also made a strong pitch to overseas Indians and has said that the country is a safe destination with a potential of 8% growth and ample investment opportunities. Sectorally, all the beaten down sectors like consumer durables, capital goods, realty and banking were moving higher, though the auto sector was witnessing some weakness in early deals. On the other hand the broader markets were performing better than the benchmarks.

The broader indices too were trading with traction, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 840 shares on the gaining side against 310 shares on the losing side while 42 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 20316.58; about 87 points higher compared to its previous closing of 20229.05, and has touched a high and a low of 20372.33 and 20278.51 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 20311.48, up by 82.43 points or 0.41%. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 70.47% stocks advancing against 26.01% declines. The broader indices too were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index up by 0.70% and Small cap index up 0.75%. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Consumer Durables up by 1.18%, Capital Goods up by 1.10%, Realty up by 0.80%, Bankex up by 0.75% and PSU up by 0.74%, while Auto down by 0.36% was the only loser on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were L&T up by 1.37%, HDFC up by 1.17%, Hindalco Industries up by 1.09%, ONGC up by 1.05% and Tata Steel up by 1.02%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma was down by 1.68%, Tata Motors was down by 1.27%, Hero MotoCorp was down by 0.87%, Bajaj Auto was down by 0.42% and Cipla was down by 0.13% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings, in its report released on Thursday, highlighted that India's narrowing current account deficit will be inadequate to shield the country from pressures tied to Fed tapering. However, in a bit of relief, Fitch underscored that the spillover effects of the Indian rupee's weakness have not significantly hurt India's creditworthiness and hence do not trigger any ratings action at this point.

Further, the global rating agency added that country’s ratings at 'BBB-minus', the lowest investment grade rating, already factors in both the sovereign's vulnerabilities and tolerance for volatility in global financial market conditions. Nevertheless, it added that sharp depreciation of the rupee in mid-2013 highlights India's difficult transition following an extended period of low growth, high inflation and a widening in the current account deficit.

Meanwhile, in a bit of positive, Fitch opined that the economy has not lost much of the momentum on the back of 'resilient' agriculture and exports, and predicted economic growth of 4.8% for the economy in 2013/14 and 5.8% in 2014/15.

Additionally, the agency although averred that it expected fiscal deficit to remain under pressure, especially ahead of the general elections due next year, it also expected government to clamp down on spending.

Furthermore, Fitch has forecasted current account deficit to decline to 3.1% of GDP in FY14 (versus 4.8% in FY13), on account of measures undertaken to curb gold imports, a weaker exchange rate, and softer domestic demand.

The CNX Nifty opened at 6,027.35; about 28 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 5,999.05, and has touched a high and a low of 6,040.90 and 6,015.65 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 6,023.95, up by 24.90 points or 0.42%. There were 40 stocks advancing against 9 declines and one stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Cairn up by 2.95%, JP Associate up by 1.61%, IndusInd Bank up by 1.59%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.50% and L&T up by 1.40%. On the flip side, Sun Pharmaceuticals down by 1.64% Tata Motors down by 1.55%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.81%, SSLT down by 0.42% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.30% were the top losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Hang Seng surged by 135.30 points or 0.57% to 23,715.59, Jakarta Composite was up by 20.81 points or 0.48% to 4,342.27, Nikkei 225 surged by 188.63 points or 1.23% to 15,554.23, Seoul Composite gained 14.18 points or 0.71% to 2,007.72 and Taiwan Weighted gained 39.42 points or 0.49% to 8,138.52.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite was marginally in red, down by 3.11 points or 0.14% to 2,202.65, KLSE Composite was tad lower by 0.92 points or 0.05% to 1,793.96 and Straits Times was down by 5.61 points or 0.18% to 3,167.42.