Benchmarks scale new highs in early deals as exit poll suggests NDA win

Extending their gaining streak for fourth straight session, Indian equity markets have made a gap-up opening and are trading jubilantly with a gain of over a percentage point, as exit polls unveiled on Monday evening predicted that the Modi-led NDA is set to cross the magic figure of 272 in the just-concluded elections. Sentiments also remained up-beat on report that overseas investors put in Rs 1,200 crore into equities, taking their two-day investment tally to nearly Rs 2,500 crore ($420 million) on Monday, as per provisional figures provided by the stock exchanges. On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in the green with some gauges on course for their biggest increase in more than six weeks. Though, the Chinese market was trading slightly lower ahead of retail sales and industrial output data. The US markets surged and the major averages ended the day firmly in positive territory, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq posting a standout gain. Back home, traders overlooked the weak set of economic data announced after the market hours, as the Industrial production contracted for the second month running in March, while consumer inflation accelerated to a three-month high in April. IIP contacted 0.5% in March, compared with a 1.8% decline in February, while CPI inflation accelerated to 8.59% in April from 8.31% in March. Back on street, none of the sectoral indices were trading in the red, while power and realty witnessed the maximum gain in trade. Capital goods, oil and gas, consumer durables, metal, auto, Technology and software too were trading significantly. The broader indices too were trading in-line with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,168 shares on the gaining side against 548 shares on the losing side while 82 shares remain unchanged. The market breadth on BSE remains positive with advances to declines in the ratio of 1152:515. BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty were comfortably trading near their psychological 23,500 and 7,000 levels respectively. The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 23830.30, up by 279.30 points or 1.19% after trading in a range of 23921.91 and 23729.25. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 declines on the index. The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.40% and Small cap index gained 1.25%. The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Power up by 3.54%, Realty up by 3.05%, PSU up by 2.87%, Oil & Gas up by 2.44% and Capital Goods up by 2.27%, while there was no loser. The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 7.79%, ONGC up by 4.20%, NTPC up by 3.87%, Tata Power up by 3.55% and Gail India up by 3.33%. On the flip side, Dr Reddys Lab was down by 0.86% and Bajaj Auto was down by 0.15% were the top losers on the Sensex. Meanwhile, driven by higher food prices, the provisional annual inflation rate based on all India general Consumer Price Index (CPI) (Combined) rose to three months high of 8.59% from 8.31% in March. According to the data, CPI numbers of March 2014 for Rural, Urban and Combined stood at 140.6, 137.2 and 139.1 respectively. The corresponding provisional inflation rates for rural and urban areas for April 2014 stood at 9.25% and 7.69% as compared to 8.89% and 7.51% respectively in the previous month. Food prices for consumers rose at 9.66% in last month from a year earlier, higher than March’s 9.10% rise.  The Provisional annual inflation rates of April 2014 for Rural and Urban in respect of ‘food and beverages’ stood at 10.45% and 8.24% for month under review compared to 9.95% and 7.47% respectively in March, 2014. Additionally, Provisional annual inflation rates (Combined) for Fuel and light; Clothing, bedding and footwear stood at 5.96% and 8.83% respectively for the month of April.  However, the core consumer price index (CPI) eased modestly to 7.80% in April from a year earlier and from a 7.82% in March. This is a bit of positive since core inflation for the past few months has remained below 8%, a level Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) chief Raghuram Rajan deems uncomfortably high. However, latest reading adds to woes of policy maker, which will review its monetary policy next on June 3, 2014. India has been battling a prolonged spell of high inflation and low growth. While economic growth has almost halved to below 5% for the past two years, the worst slowdown for the South Asian nation since the 1980s, inflation too is not showing any signs of receding. The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7,099.10 up by 84.85 points or 1.21% after trading in a range of 7,116.20 and 7,067.15. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index. The top gainers of the Nifty were BHEL up by 7.70%, DLF up by 5.13%, ONGC up by 4.14%, BPCL up by 4.09% and NTPC up by 4.05%. On the flip side, DR Reddy down by 1.10%, Bajaj-Auto down by 0.21%, Cipla down by 0.19%, Coal India down by 0.03% and Sun Pharma down by 0.02% were the top losers on the index. Most  of Asian equity indices were trading in green; Hang Seng increased by 55.22 points or 0.25% to 22,316.83, Jakarta Composite rose by 12.10 points or 0.25% to 4,925.10, Nikkei 225 spurted by 271.44 points or 1.92% to 14,420.96,  Seoul Composite climbed 21.33 points or 1.09% to 1,986.27 and  Taiwan Weighted was up by 15.32 points or 0.17% to 8,823.93. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 1.24 points or 0.06% to 2,051.64. Malaysia and Singapore markets remained shut for the trade today for Wesak Day holiday.