Markets trade in fine fettle in early deals

Extending previous session's rally, Indian equity benchmarks have made a positive start and are trading in fine fettle in early deals on Tuesday aided by continued foreign fund inflows. Moreover, election euphoria playing its part with international credit rating agency Crisil saying that stable government post-elections is likely to help the country grow at an average of 6.5 percent for the next five years. However, Crisil said it is not the election results which impact the economy, except in improving sentiment, but policies formulated by the new government that will boost growth. Global cues too remained supportive with the US markets extending their last week’s rally in last session, reflecting the upward momentum for the markets on getting some good earnings numbers and after Conference Board said its leading economic index rose by 0.8 percent in March. Asian markets too were trading mostly in the green at this point of time. Japanese market too was moving higher as yen extended losses, boosting the outlook for exporters. Back home, the markets are likely to have a volatile session of trade as the participants roll over positions from the near month April series to May series ahead of the derivatives expiry on Wednesday. The stock markets would be shut on Thursday on account of Parliamentary elections in Mumbai. On the sectoral front oil and gas, realty and capital goods witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while metal and auto remained the only 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 1122 shares on the gaining side against 566 shares on the losing side while 66 shares remain unchanged. The BSE Sensex opened at 22771.24; about 6 points higher compared to its previous closing of 22764.83, and touched a high and a low of 22834.81 and 22754.51 respectively. The index is currently trading at 22829.46, up by 64.63 points or 0.28%. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index. The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 63.97% stocks advancing against 32.27% declines. The broader indices too were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index up was by 0.54% and Small cap gained 0.72%.  The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Oil & Gas up by 1.61%, Realty up by 1.18%, Capital Goods up by 0.94%, PSU up by 0.73% and Consumer Durables up by 0.55%, while Metal down by 0.59% and Auto down by 0.18% were the top losers on the sectoral index. The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 1.81%,  Gail India up by 1.80%, RIL up by 1.58%,  L&T up by 1.16% and HDFC Bank up by 1.02%. On the flip side, Hindalco was down by 1.53%, SSLT was down by 1.39%, Tata Motors was down by 0.85%, Hindustan Unilever was down by 0.61% and Bharti Airtel was down by 0.52% were the top losers on the Sensex. Meanwhile, the Government has reviewed the raw sugar subsidy amount and decided to continue with the export subsidy of Rs 3,300 per tonne on its shipments for the period of April-May 2014. In February, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had approved an incentive for export of four million tonnes of raw sugar for two years to help the cash-starved sugar industry to pay arrears to sugarcane farmers. The CCEA decided to review the subsidy amount after every two months depending on the rupee-dollar exchange rate. The government had fixed export subsidy at Rs 3,300 per tonne for the February-March 2014 period. As per the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), around 4,00,000 tonnes of sugar is likely to be exported during April- May 2014. In the first six months of the current marketing year (October-September), India exported around 1.45 million tonnes of sugar in both raw and refined form out of which around 3,50,000 tonnes of sugar was exported in March, the first month of this subsidy plan. The latest government’s move is likely to enhance the raw sugar exports in coming future. India, world's second biggest sugar producer and largest consumer, particularly produces more white sugar for domestic consumption as comparison to raw sugar. Meanwhile, the raw sugar segment is presenting a lot of exports opportunities for the country. Till April 15 of marketing year 15, the country’s sugar output declined 4 percent to 23.1 million tonnes from 24.15 million tonnes in the same period last year. Sugar production declined in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, country’s top two producing states, while output in Karnataka was at a record level on the back of good rains. The CNX Nifty opened at 6,822.90; about 5 point higher as compared to its previous closing of 6,817.65, and has touched a high and a low of 6,831.80 and 6,813.00 respectively. The index is currently trading at 6,830.45, up by 12.80 points or 0.19%. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 declines on the index. The top gainers of the Nifty were BPCL up by 3.00%, Gail up by 1.90%, ONGC up by 1.83%, Reliance Industries up by 1.54% and L&T up by 1.20%. On the flip side, Ambuja Cements down by 1.83%, Hindalco down by 1.60%, SSLT down by 1.31%, IndusInd Bank down by 0.96% and ACC down by 0.93% were the top losers on the index. Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; KLSE Composite gained by 1.20 points or 0.06% to 1,864.13, Nikkei 225 surged 35.89 points or 0.25% to 14,548.27, Straits Times increased by 12.36 points or 0.38% to 3,268.19, Seoul Composite rose 2.57 points or 0.13% to 2,001.79 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 27.01 points or 0.30% to 8,978.20. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite slipped 1.09 points or 0.05% to 2,064.73, Hang Seng declined by 53.00 points or 0.23% to 22,707.24 and Jakarta Composite was down by 26.17 points or 0.53% to 4,866.12.