Trades Flat, Pantaloon Up 4.7% On Demerger Plans

As expected in our morning update, the Indian markets opened on a positive note today. At present, both the Sensex and Nifty are trading with marginal gains of 0.05% and 0.04% respectively.

The Pharma and Metal indices are trading up by over 0.5% each. PSU, Tech and Consumer Durables are also in the green zone. Among the major losers are CG, Realty and Bankex, down by 0.46%, 0.26% and 0.18% respectively. Others like IT, Power, Oil & Gas, FMCG and Auto are also in the negatives.

The other Asian markets are also witnessing choppy trades. Hang Seng and Shanghai have gained 0.09% and 0.37% respectively, while Nikkei is marginally down by 0.12%. Weak data from China and the US lifted the Chinese markets on hopes of more stimulus efforts to boost the sagging growth. Earlier, on Friday Sept 7, 2012, most of the Chinese stocks rose to their 7-month high after Chinese officials announced investments in various infrastructure projects to boost growth.

Back home, Pharma stocks are among the leading gainers in today’s trades. Aurobindo Pharma and Wockhardt are the leading gainers so far, both gaining 3.25%. Others in the group are also doing well, with stocks like Sun Pharma, Ranbaxy and Cadila moving higher by nearly 1.5% each.

Pantaloon Retail is up by 4.7% as of now at Rs 150 after the announcement that the Peter England Fashions & Retail's board has approved the demerger of the Pantaloon format business.

Bharti Airtel is up by 1.1% at Rs 257.50 after the news that Bharti Infratel is likely to file a DRHP for a Rs 5000 crore IPO this week.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, is positive at the moment. On the BSE, 1269 shares have advanced, 858 shares have declined and 85 shares are unchanged.

We expect the markets to remain to in a narrow range with a positive bias.