NIFTY HITS A TON

Indian equity indices are trading on a strong note on the last trading session of the week as investors at large are building up hefty positions almost across the board after drubbing the stocks in the recent past. The benchmark indices have gone on to re-capture the important psychological 5,400 and 18,000 levels and are holding on close to two percent gains this afternoon. Meanwhile reports that the meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) to consider hiking fuel prices has been re-scheduled to 7.30 pm, has coincided with the fact that the frontline indices have come off their day's high level. Some profit booking was evident in the Oil and Gas counter while index heavyweight Reliance Industries too slipped deeper into the red terrain as investors booked profits a day after its close to three percent rally. The Consumer Durables counter too succumbed to profit booking after amassing close to four percent points in the previous session. However, strong across the board buying interests was witnessed in the markets with rate sensitive like Realty and Bankex counters outperforming not only their peers but the benchmarks as well. Moreover, the sugar stocks remained in jubilant mood after EGoM finally gave a nod for additional 5 lakh tonne of sugar for exports under the open general license. Leads from the markets across the globe too were buttressing the local sentiments as benchmarks in China, Hong Kong and South Korea spurted close to two percent points while the European markets too opened on a sanguine note with all indices trading with well over a percent gains.
Back home, the broader markets have finally showed some fervor after languishing in the red terrain in previous sessions and are trading in tandem with their larger peers this afternoon. The market breadth on the BSE was strongly in favor of advances in the ratio of 1798:750 while 98 scrips remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,048.07 up by 320 points or 1.81% after trading as high as 18,085.51 and as low as 17,804.94. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 declines on the index.
The broader indices were trading on a positive note; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices jumped by 1.50% and 1.39% respectively. 
On the BSE sectoral space, Realty up 2.75%, Bankex up 2.50%, Metal up 2.17%, PSU up 2.13% and Auto up 2.03% were the major gainers, while Consumer Durables slipped 1.38% was the only losers on the index.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero Honda up by 4.75%, Cipla up by 3.63%, SBI up by 3.53%, Jaiprakash Associates up 3.10% and ONGC up 2.89%.
On the flip side, RIL down by 0.47% and R Infra down by 0.04% were the only losers on the index.
Meanwhile, in a bid to take optimum advantage of the vastly untapped trade potential between India and US, both the nations have decided to fast-track technical negotiations for early conclusion of a bilateral investment agreement. During a meeting between the Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and the US Trade Representative, Ron Kirk, both agreed to re-invigorate the Trade Policy Forum (TPF) and make it more robust and effective in resolving bilateral commercial issues, while maintaining the political leadership of the process.

Sharma also underscored that there would be two rounds of negotiations before the next meeting of the ministerial level TPF, expected to be held in October 2011 in India. While Ron Kirk, endorsing that the TPF is the premier dialogue for addressing trade and investment issues between the two countries, opined that the two sides agreed to strengthen the TPF to better facilitate resolution of outstanding issues of concern and looked forward to a constructive meeting of the TPF later this year.

The US Trade Representative further stated that "the booming bilateral trade and investment flows between the US and India support tens of thousands of critical jobs in both countries and we know that will only grow significantly in the coming years,". He also emphasized that both the counties will have to take concrete steps to resolve long-standing market access and investment concerns in order to continue and boost their bilateral trades.

Both Sharma and Kirk discussed an entire range of issues in bilateral trade and commercial engagement and described their meeting as a productive one. Sharma apprised Ambassador Kirk of various policy approaches being taken by India to sustain its high GDP growth and the opportunities it offered for the U.S. businesses to develop partnerships with the Indian private sector. He mentioned infrastructure, agriculture and agro-processing; food processing; cold chain logistics; manufacturing of electronic devices including chip design as areas with bilateral cooperative possibilities.

The Indian Minister also raised issues of importance for the Indian industry in their business operations in the US. He later informed that, US welcomed the unilateral action taken by India in reducing tariffs on a number of products, including raw pistachios, cranberry products, seedless raisins, processed foods, medical equipment, fertilizers, chemicals, heavy machinery, etc. USTR also appreciated India's efforts towards increased cooperation in services and on improving the investment environment.
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,412.35, higher by 92.35 points or 1.74% after trading as high as 5,427.20 and as low as 5,343.40. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 declines on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were hero Honda up by 4.55%, Cipla up by 3.53%, HCL Tech up by 3.36%, Sesa Goa up by 3.34% and SBI up by 3.25%.
Reliance down by 0.56%, Dr Reddy's down by 0.40%, Cairn down by 0.27%, Sun Pharma down by 0.18% and R Infra down 0.14% were the major losers on the index.
Asian markets are exhibiting mixed trends as Shanghai Composite surged 2.08%, Hang Seng soared 1.60%, Jakarta Composite gained 0.28%, KLSE Composite inched up 0.01%, Nikkei 225 climbed 0.98%, Straits Times amassed 0.57% and Seoul Composite jumped 1.70%.
On the flipside only Taiwan Weighted eased 0.40%.
The European markets have opened on a strong note as France's CAC 40 rose 1.63%, Germany's DAX gained 1.53% and London's FTSE advanced 1.50%