Markets Manage To Close On Positive Note

The Indian markets managed to close positive after the negative bias seen in the afternoon trades. Both the indices were marginally up by closing. The Nifty is at 5300 for the first time since Apr 2012.

In the Asian markets, Hang Seng and Shanghai closed negative over the new data which showed a slowdown in the services sector in China. Nikkei, on the other hand, managed to keep some gains today.

The bears are back on the European indices, as the key indices are in the red. DAX and CAC are down over 0.5% each, and UK's FTSE is down 0.16%. The markets are currently awaiting the ECB's move, which may surprise by easing the monetary policy.

Dow Jones Futures is currently trading 19 points or 0.15% down at 12848.

Back home, the RBI Deputy Governor, Subir Gokarn, has said that India’s current account deficit has been putting pressure on the rupee. The high demand for the dollar to finance the deficit and the capital inflows are not matching, which is also a reason why the rupee has depreciated sharply.

Meanwhile, investment bank UBS has upgraded Indian stocks to 'overweight' status due to attractive valuations and improving trade.

The positive news flows to the Power sector has continued this week today. In the latest reports, CEA has said that the 12th Plan projects have all the necessary clearances, including coal linkages and equipment orders for the main plant. Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde has also said that the power situation will improve in next 15 days, which is good news for the sector.

Among the sectoral indices, the Metals index saw buyers' optimism due to the increased commodity prices. Realty was up as the government has extended the 1% housing loan interest scheme by 1 year. Besides, housing finance major HDFC has received an overwhelming response to its convertible warrants, which were selling 86% up at a price of Rs 68.20 a piece. The Oil & Gas index lost by the highest margin. FMCG, IT and HC were also among the losers.

From the Sensex stocks, Sterlite Industries was up by 5.27%. Jindal Steel was also higher by 3.37%. The demand for Maruti and Bharti was good, and the shares of both companies were up over 2% each. Hindalco, Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel and SBI were all up by 1% today. ONGC was the top loser, down 4.6%. Dr. Reddy's Labs and Wipro were also among those that finished negative.

The shares of JSW Steel saw a 4.4% rise on the news that it will start operating at its full capacity of 14.3 MTPA in the next 2 months on expectations of additional iron ore from mines in Karnataka. The Karnataka state government is set to approve 8 iron ore mines with a total capacity of 5.5 MTPA.

Meanwhile, VKS IPO has been subscribed by 0.66 times so far since the opening.

The advance-decline ratio was positive for the day, with a total of 60% stocks having advanced.

With the markets showing flat trades this week, we believe that they are waiting for the ECB's move tomorrow. Investors can take exposure to some stocks as the government may go in for reforms in the country.