Sensex, Nifty manage to keep head above water; HC, Auto lead

Indian equities after a quiet start are trading above the neutral line on back of strong buying in frontline counters in the late morning session. While, most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red despite some good economic news from the region and as the BOJ increased its monetary stimulus for a second month running. Japan’s central bank said that it will offer unlimited loans at low interest rates to lenders. Back home, traders were seen piling up position in, HC, Auto and CD sector while selling was witnessed in CG, Power and Oil and Gas sector. Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp from Auto pack were seen trading in green. Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s Lab, Cipla, Lupin, Ranbaxy Lab, Glaxosmithkline Pharmaceuticals and Divi's Laboratories from HC pack were seen trading firm in green. CG majors - L&T, BHEL, Crompton Greaves, and Thermax were capping the markets’ gains. Oil and Gas majors RIL, ONGC, Gail India, Cairn India and BPCL too were pressurizing the markets. 

In the scrip specific development, Bharti Airtel gained on re-launching WorldSpace Radio on Airtel Digital TV.  Mukand jumped on inking master agreement with Sumitomo Corporation for formation of JV. Biocon soared on inking pact with GE Capital for equity divestment in Syngene. IL&FS Engineering and Construction edged higher on bagging order worth Rs 445 crore. Muthoot Finance surged on plan to double business transactions to Rs 7,000 crore. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals zoomed on reporting three-fold jump in Q2 consolidated net. McNally Bharat rose on bagging orders worth Rs 85.20 crore. Force Motors jumped as it starts developing multi-purpose vehicle. The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5,600 and 18400 levels.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, in the ratio of 1099:910.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18469.06 up by 38.21 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 1 18485.20 and 18409.20. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.36% and Small cap index was up by 0.18%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, HC up by 1.53%, Auto up by 1.08%, CD up by 0.54%, TECk up by 0.38% and Realty up by 0.23%. While, CG down by 0.45%, Power down by 0.09%, Oil and Gas down by 0.07%, Bankex down by 0.03%, and FMCG down by 0.19% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.68%, Dr Reddy up by 2.26%, Tata Motors up by 1.70%, Cipla up by 1.54% and Wipro up by 1.45%.

On the flip side, Jindal Steel was down by 1.15%, BHEL was down by 1.03%, L&T was down by 0.68% ,HUL was down by 0.68%, and Gail India was down by 0.52% were the top losers on the Sensex.

 Meanwhile ,Though initial kharif estimates point towards marginal drop in total food grains (output) this year, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Tuesday asserted an expectation of achieving a total of 250 million tones (mt), falling nearly 3% production during 2012-13. The foodgrains production is estimated to decline due to drought in parts of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Further, the minister added that, the overall availability of foodgrains and its efficient distribution is the key for country's food security. However, expectations of a better rabi crop on revival of late monsoons would help offset the 10% decline in kharif output, thereby increasing the overall output. In the last year, the total food grains output touched an all-time high of 257.44 mt and the target for the current year is pegged at 249.52 mt. The need to strengthen the food grains procurement mechanism in India's Eastern States to provide better prices to farmers in these states has been stressed by Pawar in the Conference of Food Ministers and Secretaries of States and Union Territories.

Moreover, Pawar informed about a second green revolution being ushered in India's Eastern States of West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, where paddy production is set for a rise

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,604.45, up by 6.55 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 5,610.40 and 5,585.20. There were 28 stocks advancing against 21 declines while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.81%, Dr Reddy up by 2.26%, Tata Motors up by 1.90%, Cipla up by 1.52% and Wipro up by 1.50%.

On the flip side, BHEL down by 1.53%, Jindal Steel down by 1.41%, RInfra down by 1.18%, Ultra Cement down by 1.02%, and HUL down by 0.87%, were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading mostly in the red; Taiwan Weighted down by 0.31%, Shanghai Composite was down  by 0.24%, Jakarta Composite down  by 0.68%, Straits Times was down  by 0.23%, and KLSE Composite down by 0.13% while Hang Seng was up by 0.24%, Kospi Composite was up by 0.85%, Nikkei 225 was up by 1.37%  were the gainers.