Gains expand at the equity markets; FMCG stocks soar

The sentiment at Dalal Street has just got better as the local bourses are trading near their intra day's high. Continued buying by funds and retail investors amidst firm global equities are keeping the momentum lively for the street. However, the session's rally can be attributed to the stocks belonging to the Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Auto and Metal counters, which have managed to divert the investor's attention from the issue related to possible hike in fuel prices for the time being.  Since, the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will be meeting on Wednesday to discuss the health of the state owned oil marketing companies, besides discussing a hike in diesel prices, and reverting to the deregulated price regime for petrol. On the global front, US stocks closed higher as commodities rebounded, while Asian shares too have enlarged their gains as most of them are trading in green. The US future indices are trading mixed on the screen trade. Back home, the benchmark index on BSE--Sensex-- has bagged gain of over 100 points and is trading above the 18600 mark while the barometer index on NSE--Nifty--has also added over 30 points and is at a sniffing distance from 5600 mark. Though, the stocks from Consumer Durables space are the only weak spells but broader indices contribution has turned the rally favorable and enduring. Both Midcap and Smallcap Indices are trading with gains of around half a percent each. The overall market breadth on BSE is widely in the favoour of advances which have piped declines in the ratio of 1220:775, while 109 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,650.51, up by 121.55 points or 0.66%. The index has touched a high and low of 18,682.02 and 18,485.42 respectively.   There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in line with benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were up by 0.46% and 0.62% respectively. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, FMCG up by 1.87%, Auto up by 0.99%, Metal up by 0.89%, Oil and Gas up by 0.83% and Power up by 0.82%. While CD down by 0.10% was the only losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HUL up by 4.45%, Reliance Communication up by 3.19%, Sterlite Industries up by 2.48%, NTPC up by 2.26% and ONGC up by 1.83%.

On the flip side, Tata Power up by 0.40%, HDFC Bank down by 0.35%, Infosys down by 0.13%, Tata Steel down by 0.09% and HDFC down by 0.02% were the top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, higher interest rates, increasing fuel prices and vehicle costs crimped demand in the world's second-fastest growing auto market. Car sales in India increased at its slowest pace in nearly two years, rising 13.2% from a year earlier in April. It is being anticipated that there will be some postponement of purchases because of interest rates, high prices which may result in further decrease in demand. The Indian automakers sold 162,825 cars in April 2011, compared with 143,862 vehicles a year earlier, Sales of trucks and buses, a key pointer to economic activity, rose 8.2% from a year earlier to 53,202 units in April, the slowest rise since September 2009, data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed.

Top car maker Maruti posted a 4.4% rise in global sales to 97,155 units in April, its slowest pace of growth in more than a year. The company, 54.2% owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, had warned that the short-term outlook was uncertain due to rising interest rates that could dampen consumer demand, and higher commodity prices.

Last week, RBI raised interest rates by a bigger-than-expected 50 basis points and declared it would battle stubbornly high inflation even at the cost of some economic slowdown. The rising costs of steel, rubber and other raw materials have forced some Indian car makers, to raise prices in recent months.

SIAM expects local auto sales growth to slacken to 12-15% this fiscal year, after it grew a record 30% in 2010/2011 to 1.98 million units driven by demand from a growing middle class in Asia's third-largest economy, easier access to loans and a wider choice of models.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,585.60, up by 34.50 points or 0.62%. The index has touched a high and a low of 5,592.60 and 5,537.50 respectively.  There were 39 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HUL up by 4.50%, Reliance Communication up by 3.02%, Sterlite Industries up by 2.39%, NTPC up by 2.34% and ITC up by 1.95%.

Ranbaxy down by 1.06%, Ambuja Cement down by 0.72%, Sun Pharmaceuticals down by 0.44%, HDFC Bank down by 0.28% and Infosys was down by 0.25%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian counterparts were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite gained 0.32%, Jakarta Composite added 0.22%, KLSE Composite rose 0.12% and Straits Times expanded 0.31% and Nikkei 225 increased 0.08%

On the flip side, and Taiwan Weighted declined 0.09%. Stock markets in South Korea and Hong Kong remained shut today on account of a public holiday 

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