Benchmarks hold early gains; HC, Metal, Auto lead

Indian equities continued to trade in fine fettle on back of strong buying in frontline counters in the late morning session. On the global front, Asian counters were trading mixed at this point of time though; the US markets extended the rally with modest gains on Friday despite weak jobs report, as there were hopes of stimulus in next Fed meet that got bolstered with the jobs report. Back home the traders were seen piling up position in HC, Metal and Auto sector, while selling was witnessed in CG, FMCG and Bankex sector. Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Lupin, and Ranbaxy Laboratories from HC pack were seen trading in green edging the markets higher. Tata Steel, Coal India, Sterlite Industries, Hindalco Industries and JSW Steel from Metal pack were seen trading firm in green. ICICI Bank, SBI, Axis Bank and Bank of Baroda, from banking sector were trading in red exerting pressure on the market, while CG majors Larsen & Toubro, Bharat Heavy Electricals and Suzlon Energy too were pressurizing the markets. 

In the scrip specific development, Infosys rose on inking definitive agreement to acquire Lodestone Holding AG. Godrej Industries gained on plan to divest 43% stake in Godrej Hershey. DQ Entertainment jumped on entering into promotional partnership with Burger King Worldwide. ARSS Infrastructure surged on entering into agreements with CDR Lenders.

The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5350 and 17700 levels respectively.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, in the ratio of 1284:846.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17767.77 up by 18.12 points or 0.10% after touching a high of 17810.90 and low of 17731.75. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.46% and Small cap index was up by 0.57%.

On the BSE sectoral space, HC up by 1.03%, Metal up by 0.98%, Auto up by 0.41%, PSU up by 0.29 and CD up by 0.18 were the gainers. While, CG down by 0.40%, FMCG down by 0.36%, Bankex down by 0.18%, Realty down by 0.12% and IT down by 0.03% were the losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco Industries up by 1.73%, Coal India up by 1.36%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.32%, Tata Steel up by 1.28% and Sun Pharma up by 1.26%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 1.43%, Wipro down by 1.16%, Jindal Steel down by 1.16%, SBI down by1.10% and ICICI Bank down by 0.90% were the losers on the Sensex. 

 Mean while , Share of agriculture in the gross domestic product (GDP) has declined by nearly 5% in the last 8 years. The percentage has been declining steadily with the passing of years. Agriculture & other corresponding sectors, which used to contribute 19% of GDP in 2004-05 has plunged to 14% in 2011-12.

The decline is as a result of comparatively higher growth in GDP of other sectors but, capital investment in the sector has shown improvement. The Gross Capital Formation (GCF) investment in agriculture sector (at 2004-05 prices) has augmented from Rs 69,148 crore in 2004-05 to Rs 1,30,907 crore in 2010-11.

The agriculture sector has shown signs of an average growth rate of 3.3% annually in the 11th Year Plan period ended March 31, 2012 as compared to 2.4% per annum during the 10th Year Plan. In UN's body, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), India contributed 2.3% share in world's total land area and 17.5% of world's population. Food grain production has also made an increase from 217.28 million tonnes in 2006-07 to 257.44 million tonnes in 2011-12.  The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,363.00, up by 4.30 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 5,375.45 and 5,350.40. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 declines on the index.The top gainers of the Nifty were Hindalco up by 1.97%, Ranbaxy up by 1.81%, Coal India up by 1.53%, Reliance Infra up by 1.46% and HDFC up by 1.34%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 1.48%, SBI down by 1.26%, Jindal Steel down by 1.07%, AXIS Bank down by 1.05% and HUL down by 1.03% were the losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 down by 0.16%, Straits Times down by 0.10% ,KLSE Composite  down by 0.08% and  Kospi Composite Index  down by 0.01% while Jakarta Composite up by 0.08%, Hang Seng index up by 0.09%, , Taiwan Weighted up by 0.64%, Shanghai Composite up by 0.37% were the gainers.