Markets gain further momentum as stocks rebound on bargain hunting

After opening higher on the news that DMK has put on hold the resignation of six of its ministers from the UPA government at the Centre the equity markets are now holding on ground and infact have added some weight in the mid morning session. Funds and retail investors preferred engaging in fresh buying of stocks available at lower levels after the sustained decline over the past two sessions amidst fresh developments on the political front which offered much needed respite to a government fighting to win back public trust after a raft of corruption scandals. Further, gains in the key heavyweights also contributed to the upward momentum of the markets. Jaiprakash Associates and Reliance Infra were gaining more than 2 percent each. Reliance Industries too was up by about a percent. On the global front, Asian stock markets were mostly higher Tuesday, with merger activity bolstering Tokyo shares, but gains were capped as investors remained discouraged by high oil prices amid the continuing political upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa. US future were showing downtick on the screen trade.

Back on Dalal Street, the benchmark indices advanced further and registered growth of 188.86 (Sensex) and 46.95 points (S&P CNX Nifty) respectively. The broader indices too in a similar fashion added weight and were up by 0.90% each. On the BSE Sectoral front, stocks from Metal, Consumer Durables, Auto charged the market. The overall market breadth was firmly in the favour of advances today which flogged declines in the ratio of 1568:659, while, 82 shares remained unchnanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,411.53, up by 188.86 points or 1.04%.It touched a high of 18,455.76 and a low of 18,266.62 respectively. There were 28 stocks advancing against just 2 decline on the index.

The broader indices were performing in line with benchmark; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 1.00% and 0.98% respectively. 

All the sectoral indices were in positive territory. However, the top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Metal and Consumer durables (CD) were up by 1.19% each, Auto up by 1.13 %, TECk up by 1.12% and Realty up by 1.08%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Jaiprakash Associates up by 3.40%, Reliance Infra up by 3.02%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.31%, Tata Motors up by 2.04%, and Bharti Airtel was up by 1.98%.

Hero Honda down by 0.68% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.11% were the only losers on the index

Meanwhile, in the wake of high food inflation and food security concerns, India is not likely to lift the ban on export of wheat and non-basmati rice, according to a recent report by US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The export ban on wheat was imposed in the year 2007 and on non basmati rice in 2008 due to high inflation in the country.

According to the USDA report, India's wheat output is pegged at 83 million tonne (MT) and rice output at 94.5 MT in 2011-12 marketing year, i.e. April-March. It also added that "Despite forecasted record production, strong government procurement and abnormally high stocks, the government is unlikely to lift the ban on wheat exports due to continued food inflation concerns."

Despite such high expectations of wheat and rice output, the double digit inflation is still ruling the policy initiatives of the government as despite taking several measures to tame it, it has not been able to achieve much on this front.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,510.10, higher by 46.95 points or 0.86%.The index touched high of 5526.15 and a low of 5464.75 respectively. There were 45 stocks advancing against just 5 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Jaiprakash Associates up by 3.34%, Reliance Infra up by 3.06%, Tata Motors and Reliance Capital  up by 2.09% each and Bajaj Auto up by 2.06%.

Cairn down by 1.34%, Hero Honda down by 0.91%, GAIL down by 0.72%, Dr Reddy down by 0.39%,  and Wipro down by 0.13% were the major losers on the index.

As a part of the larger Hinduja Group corporate branding exercise, Ashok Leyland (AL) is also in the process of going through a major branding exercise which will include a change in its logo, name as well as category segmentation. This branding exercise which will give all companies in the Hinduja Group a common brand profile will result into the company being rechristened as Hinduja Leyland.

London-based firm Wolff Olins is said to be working on the rebranding and category segmentation exercise for Ashok Leyland. London-based firm has been assigned the job of rebranding the company to put it in the same league as that of its global alliance partners. The company is likely to bring in a fresh team of designers from across the globe for this exercise.

The company is segmenting and branding the different product categories it will house thanks to its forged global alliances like its joint venture with Nissan and its 26% stake in UK-based busmaker Optare. As a result, its various product categories require rebranding because it is now entering segments it has never had a presence in before.

Asian equity indices were trading mostly in the green; Hang Seng was up by 0.23%, KLSE Composite rose 0.09%, Nikkei 225 gained 0.35%, Straits Times increased 0.44%, Seoul Composite added 1.27% and Taiwan Weighted grew 0.27%.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down  by 0.24%  and Shanghai Composite lost 0.40%.

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