Markets pare some gains; still hold the key levels

Markets are keeping their momentum upright after touching their fresh all time high, though there were some profit booking at the top that have took the markets little lower from the high points of the day, but still there is sufficient buying, mainly in banking, auto, refinery and FMCG sectors in view of sustained foreign capital inflows, keeping the markets comfortably in green. While, the investment banker Goldman Sachs upgrading Indian equities to “overweight” from “marketweight” and raising its target on Nifty to 7,600, citing reduced external vulnerabilities, including a narrowing current account deficit, and potential for gains ahead of elections that conclude in May, had given the initial push, the strength in rupee was supporting the local equity markets. The broader markets were outperforming the benchmarks with quiet a margin and most of the sectoral indices too continue to retain their gains, though the IT and Tech stocks were in a bit somber mood owing to the strength in the rupee.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 21931.01 up by 121.21 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 22040.72 and 21849.65. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index.

The broader indices were outperforming the benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.04% and Small cap index was up by 0.92%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on BSE were, Oil & Gas up 1.92%, power up by 1.62%, FMCG up by 1.50%, Bankex up by 1.05% and Realty was up by 1.03%, while IT down by 0.37% and Tech down by 0.12% were the two losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 7.96%, SBI up by 2.51%, ONGC up by 2.36%, ITC up by 2.18% and Coal India up by 2.14%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.30%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.17%, HDFC down by 1.11%, L&T down by 0.76% and TCS down by 0.75% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in what that could give some sense of respite and encouragement to the ailing manufacturing sector, a study by Assocham has said that the manufacturing sector may create 3.2 million jobs during the 12th Plan period (2012-17).

As per the study findings, the manufacturing sector reported 28.5 per cent growth in employment generation during the 11th Plan (2007-12) and an additional 2.9 million jobs were generated in the registered manufacturing sector during 2007-08 to 2011-12 from over 10.45 million jobs in 2007-08.

In state wise job creation, Tamil Nadu topped with highest share of 14.5 per cent in total jobs generated by registered manufacturing sector across India, followed by Maharashtra with share of 14 per cent and Gujarat with a share of 10 per cent in registered manufacturing. In percentage terms, the small hilly state Uttarakhand recorded the highest growth rate in terms of employment generation in registered manufacturing sector during the 11th Plan. The other states that recorded high jobs generation in registered manufacturing were Bihar 71.8 per cent, Himachal Pradesh 70 per cent, Odisha 54 per cent and Maharashtra 38.8 per cent. However, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala and Punjab recorded the slowest growth rate in employment generation.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,541.45 up by 37.25 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 6,574.95 and 6,531.90. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Maruti was up by 7.88%, IndusInd Bank up by 2.53%, SBI up by 2.52%, ONGC up by 2.34% and Jindal Steel was up by 2.31%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.31%, Tata Motors down by 1.31%, HDFC down by 1.11%, Lupin down by 1.11% and TCS down by 0.79% were the top losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite was up by 0.08%, KLSE Composite was up by 0.19%, Nikkei 225 gained 0.94%, Seoul Composite was up by 0.66% and Taiwan Weighted added 0.37%.On the other hand Hang Seng dropped 0.30%, Jakarta Composite lost 1.28% and Straits Times lost 0.20%.