Markets trade slightly higher in early deals

A bout of volatility is witnessed in early deals with Indian equity benchmarks trading marginally higher on Wednesday. Sentiments got some support from currency front where Indian rupee opened stronger on corporate dollar inflows, with the pair at 62.28/29 versus its previous close of 62.50/51. Meanwhile, Sugar stocks too remained jubilant with scrips like Balrampur Chini, Shree Renuka Sugar, Bajaj Hindusthan, Triveni Engineering etc edged higher on report that the Food Ministry will soon seek Cabinet nod for providing interest-free loans to cash-starved sugar mills to help them meet working capital requirements.

The gains on the up-side remained capped as global cues remained choppy with the US markets ending flat overnight, there were early gains on the back of better than expected reports on building permits and home prices but the major indices pulled back sharply going into the close. Moreover, Asian markets too were exhibiting mixed trend at this point of time as investors remained cautious and indulged in some selling following a flat lead from Wall Street overnight.

Back home, on the sectoral front, oil and gas witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by fast moving consumer goods and auto, while banking, technology and software remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were trading in-line with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 609 shares on the gaining side against 511 shares on the losing side while 44 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 20449.00; about 23 points higher compared to its previous closing of 20425.02, and has touched a high and a low of 20482.67 and 20404.44 respectively. The index is currently trading at 20437.23, up by 12.21 points or 0.06%. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 52.32 % stocks advancing against 43.90% declines. The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap up by 0.39% and Small cap indices up by 0.12%. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Oil & Gas up by 0.73%, FMCG up by 0.68%, Auto up by 0.49%, PSU up by 0.36% and Capital Goods up by 0.23%, while Bankex down by 0.19%, Teck down by 0.10%, IT down by 0.09%, Metal down by 0.08% and Power down by 0.05% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr Reddys Lab up by 1.44%, ONGC up by 1.43%, Tata Motors up by 1.40%, Gail India up by 0.99% and ITC up by 0.77%. On the flip side, SSLT down by 1.53%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.45%, Sun Pharma down by 1.07%, HDFC Bank down by 0.74% and HDFC down by 0.71% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Extending liquidity support to the medium enterprises, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed banks for classifying loans given to medium manufacturing enterprises after November 13 as priority sector advance.

As per the RBI’s notification, the incremental bank loans extended to medium service enterprises, after November 13, 2013, up to the credit limit of Rs.10 crore, would qualify as priority sector advances. Besides, India’s apex bank also raised the loan limit given to micro and small service enterprises to Rs 10 crore from Rs 5 crore that will be treated as priority sector advance. This facility shall remain open till March, 2014.

Currently, under priority sector advance, most banks are mandated to lend 40% of their loans to agriculture, micro and small enterprises, poor people for housing, students for education and other low income groups and weaker sectors. This is essentially meant for an all round development of the economy as opposed to focusing only on the financial sector.

The CNX Nifty opened at 6,062.70; about 3 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 6,059.10, and has touched a high and a low of 6,074.00 and 6,050.10 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 6,061.15, down by 2.05 points or 0.03%. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Tata Motors up by 1.58%, ONGC up by 1.46%, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories up by 1.34%, GAIL up by 0.99% and ITC up by 0.87%. On the flip side, SSLT down by 1.50%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.07%, Sun Pharmaceuticals down by 0.90%, HDFC down by 0.88% and Cairn down by 0.80% were the top losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite surged 15.10 points or 0.69% to 2,198.17, Hang Seng soared 128.47 points or 0.54% to 23,809.75, Jakarta Composite added 11.33 points or 0.27% to 4,246.59 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 57.17 points or 0.69% to 8,305.19.

On the flip side, KLSE Composite slipped 0.55 points or 0.03% to 1,797.58, Nikkei 225 declined 54.25 points or 0.35% to 15,460.99, Straits Times contracted 3.96 points or 0.12% to 3,169.55 and Seoul Composite was down by 4.23 points or 0.21% to 2,018.41.