Markets Trading On A Positive Note

As mentioned in our morning update, the Indian markets opened in the positive territory. At present, both the indices are trading higher, with the Sensex up by 68 points at 17,385 and the Nifty up by 15 points at 5,263 points. Among the sectors, defensive indices like consumer durables and FMCG moved higher by more than 1 per cent while indices like auto and oil & gas are trading lower.

The other Asian markets are trading higher with Hang Seng and Shanghai up by more than 1 per cent while Nikkei is trading marginally in the green zone. This is because the manufacturing data in the world’s two largest economies viz. the US and China has improved. There is a positive sentiment in China as the nation’s two stock exchanges said that they will cut trading fees by 25 per cent to attract investors.

Back home, defensive bet HUL today created a new two-week high and is trading up by 3.19 per cent at Rs 429.65 after the company posted robust financial numbers yesterday. For the March quarter of FY12 its net profit increased by 21 per cent to Rs 687 crore as against the market expectations of Rs 649 crore. Other stocks like Jindal Steel, Bharti Airtel, DLF, TCS, etc are also trading higher by more than 1 per cent. Banking stocks like ICICI Bank and SBI are trading higher almost by 1 per cent as investors see buying opportunity in the beaten down scrips. Some of the other stocks like HDFC, Sun Pharma, BHEL, etc are trading marginally in the green zone.

On the other hand, auto stocks continued their trend of moving lower. Stocks like Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki are trading lower in the range of 1 to 3 per cent. Other stocks like NTPC, Coal India, Gail India, RIL, etc are trading marginally in the red zone.

HCL Tech is trading marginally in the green zone, up by 0.07 per cent to Rs 512.35 after the news that a leading global medical technology company has signed an engineering and R&D services engagement with the company. Gujarat State Petronet (GSPL) and three PSU majors viz. IOC, HPCL and BPCL have executed joint venture agreements for developing three cross-country natural gas transmission pipeline projects. GSPL is trading higher while the other three are trading in a very narrow range in the red zone.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, is strong. On the BSE, 1,327 shares rose and 700 shares declined while 85 shares remained unchanged. We expect the market to remain volatile for the day.