Benchmarks add to their gains; PSU leads the rally

After some initial hip-hops the domestic markets have started firming up their gains in the mid morning session, the benchmarks have added another more than half a percent of gains to their previous day's rally on the back of strong performance from the markets heavyweights. Though there is some profit booking in the realty and CD sector but good gains in the PSU, Power and CG stocks are supporting the markets to move higher. The Auto sector too is showing spurt as the monthly auto sales number has started trickling in and so far TVS and Maruti have announced better than expected numbers.

Pasenger car market leader - Maruti Suzuki (India) sold a total of 1,04,073 vehicles, up by 1.9% as compared to 1,02,175 vehicles in May 2010. This includes 10,554 units of exports during the month.  In May 2011, the company has sold 93,519 units in the domestic market, up by 3.9% over 90,041 units in corresponding month last year. The sales in A1 segment dropped by 11.6%, in A2 segment sales dipped by 2.6% while, the sales in A3 segment surged by 24.20%. The sales in C segment registered a growth of 20%. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,622.21, up by 118.93 points or 0.64%. The index has touched a high and low of 18,636.12 and 18,526.86 respectively. There were 26 stocks advancing against just 4 declines on the index. 

The broader indices were outperforming their larger counterparts; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 0.80% and 1.01 % respectively.

On the BSE Sectoral space, the top gainers were PSU up by 1.02%, Power up by 0.96%, CG up by 0.91%, TECk was up by 0.84% and Metal too was up by 0.84%.  While on the losers side CD was down by 0.48%, realty was down by 0.19% and HC too was down by 0.19%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 2.58%, NTPC up by 2.52%, RCom up by 1.62%, Reliance Infra up by 1.56% and SBI was up by 1.40%.

On the flip side, DLF down by 1.40%, ICICI Bank 0.84%, Tata Motors was down by 0.54% and RIL down by 0.40% were the only losers on the Sensex. 

Meanwhile, Indian economic expansion slowed in the January-March quarter mainly on account of weak performance by mining and quarrying, manufacturing, contraction and trade, hotels, transport, and communication. However, for the fiscal year ending March 2011, the gross domestic product (GDP) maintained a robust growth rate, reassuring policy makers that the economy is in good shape despite sustained monetary tightening over the past year.

According to the data released by Central Statistics Office (CSO), India's GDP at factor cost at constant (2004-05) prices for the full fiscal year ended March 31 showed a growth rate of 8.5% over the 8% GDP growth for the year 2009-10. While the quarterly estimates of GDP for the fourth quarter showed a growth rate of 7.8% against 9.4% year-on-year and 8.3% quarter on quarter.

On sectoral basis, farm sector recorded smart growth of 7.5% against 1.1% registered in the same period a year ago, boosted by a good winter harvest, but manufacturing growth figures disappointed as they came in at 5.5% in the three months through March from a year earlier, compared with a 6% gain in the previous quarter and 15.2% year-on-year. The manufacturing activity has been slowed by nine interest rate hikes in the past 15 months to tackle the rampant inflation.

Nonetheless, the GDP figures reflect the resilience of Asia's third-largest economy which has expanded at a swift pace despite the odds that emerged not only from the domestic macro-economic front but also from the global front including turbulences like civil upheaval in the Middle East and North African nations and the Euro-zone debt crisis. Continued domestic demand on the back of rising income levels helped the Indian economy to clock the robust growth, second only to neighboring China among major economies. But the steady growth is expected to give the Reserve Bank of India more confidence to continue raising interest rates to rein in uncomfortably high inflation.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,591.05, higher by 30.90 points or 0.56%. The index has touched a high and low of 5,595.75 and 5,559.45 respectively. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index. 

The top gainers of the Nifty were NTPC up by 2.97%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.57%, ACC up by 1.99%, Ambuja Cements was up by 1.98% and Reliance Capital was up by 1.92%.

On the flip side, Ranbaxy down by 1.97%, Sunpharma down by 1.52%, DLF down by 1.15%, IDFC down by 0.88% and HCL Tech was down by 0.55%.

The Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 was up by 4.20 points or 0.05%, Straits Times advanced by 16.30 points or 0.52%, Seoul Composite gained 1.10 points or 0.05% and Taiwan Weighted climbed higher by 72.98 points or 0.86%. 

On the flip side, Hang Seng was down by 33.14 points or 0.14%, KLSE Composite lost 2.83 points or 0.18%, and Shanghai Composite slid by 6.75 points or 0.25%.

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