Markets trade slightly higher in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks are trading slightly higher in early deals on Tuesday, as bargain hunting witnessed in blue chip-stocks after a sharp fall in previous session. Investors remained optimistic on reports that the government is considering a proposal to allow companies to issue depository receipts like ADR and GDR against debt instruments, in a bid to deepen financial markets. Besides, the option of giving ADR and GDR holders voting right to make such securities more attractive to foreign investors, too is being considered. Some support came in on report that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 198.53 crore on March 3, 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

On the global front, the US markets suffered sharp cuts in last session as tensions in Ukraine and Russia escalated after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared he had the right to invade his neighbor. The Asian markets were trading mostly lower at this point of time, led by Chinese market which down by around a percent ahead of the National People’s Congress annual meeting starting tomorrow.

Back home, on the sectoral front, consumer durables, metal and oil and gas witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while realty, auto and software remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices, however, were outperforming benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 909 shares on the gaining side against 617 shares on the losing side while 66 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 20947.00; higher by 0.35 points as compared to its previous closing of 20946.65, and touched a high and a low of 21016.16 and 20940.39 respectively. The index is currently trading at 20976.72, up by 30.07 points or 0.14%. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 57.11% stocks advancing against 38.94% declines. The broader indices too were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index up was by 0.54% and Small cap gained 0.42%. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Consumer Durables up by 2.10%, Metal up by 1.02%, Oil & Gas up by 0.52%, PSU up by 0.50% and Bankex up by 0.39%, while Realty down by 0.80%, Auto down by 0.51%, IT down by 0.39%, Healthcare down by 0.38% and Teck down by 0.22% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 2.27%, Tata Power up by 1.85%, SSLT up by 1.66%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.46% and Gail India up by 1.26%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki was down by 1.37%, Bajaj Auto was down by 1.12%, Dr Reddys Lab was down by 1.01%, Sun Pharma was down by 0.73% and TCS was down by 0.42% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, In order to boost the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked industry chambers and associations to come up with innovative solutions to address problems of the MSME sector and provide inputs for policy formulation.

Manmohan Singh stressed that the MSME sector is vital to the national economy and participation of the private sector and civil society is needed to make government's initiatives for the success of the sector. Prime Minister expressed the need to address constraints that still hinder the development of the MSME sector adding that only a fraction of enterprises in India has the skills, risk appetite and resources to avail of the opportunities offered by globalisation. Further, Manmohan Singh added that the government has taken several steps for the development of the MSME sector including the MSME Development Act, 2006, Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme and setting up a six-member inter-ministerial panel which will suggest measures to boost the MSME exports.

The MSME sector contributes around 8% of the country's GDP, 45% of the manufactured output, 43% of country’s exports and provides employment to over 8 crore persons engaged in over 3.6 crore units. In the 12th Five-Year Plan, the government has increased Budget allocation for the sector to Rs 24,124 crore from Rs 11,500 crore in the previous five-plan period.

The CNX Nifty opened at 6,216.75; about 4 point lower as compared to its previous closing of 6,221.45, and has touched a high and a low of 6,240.00 and 6,215.70 respectively. The index is currently trading at 6,228.50, up by 7.05 points or 0.11%. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.32%, SSLT up by 1.66%, Tata Power up by 1.65%, Cairn up by 1.59% and IDFC up by 1.42%. On the flip side, DLF down by 1.62%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.38%, Ranbaxy down by 1.10%, Bajaj-Auto down by 1.01% and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories down by 0.91% were the top losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite declined by 16.56 points or 0.80% to 2,058.68, Jakarta Composite slipped 14.83 points or 0.32% to 4,569.37, KLSE Composite dropped 4.78 points or 0.26% to 1,819.91, Seoul Composite contracted by 6.25 points or 0.32% to 1,958.44 and  Taiwan Weighted was down by 20.58 points or 0.24% to 8,581.40.

On the flip side, Hang Seng surged by 79.84 points or 0.35% to 22,580.51, Nikkei 225 soared 9.11 points or 0.06% to 14,661.34 and Straits Times was up by 9.18 points or 0.30% to 3,096.65.