FIRM START

The Indian equity markets have made a firm start led by some bottom fishing amid turnaround in global sentiments. The global cues remained supportive as an encouraging start to earnings season helped US stocks rebound overnight while; all the Asian counters barring Seoul Composite were trading in the green at this point of time. Back home, traders are eying IIP data for February which will be announced today, it is expected that industrial output will probably slow a tad from January's surge, as growth in the manufacturing and consumer non-durables sectors are likely to moderate. Moreover, sustained buying in mostly all the key heavyweights along with broader indices supported BSE's -- Sensex -- and NSE's -- Nifty -- to trade comfortably over their crucial 17,300 and 5,250 mark respectively. On the sectoral front, metal, banking and capital goods remained the top gainers while there was no loser on the index. Meanwhile, Aviation stocks like Spicejet, Air India and Kingfisher Airlines have gained between 1-4 percent as Cabinet committee on economic affairs is likely to clear a proposal to allow foreign carriers to invest in their Indian counterparts today. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,150 shares on the gaining side against 320 shares on the losing side while 53 shares remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, new listings National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) was down by over 10 percent while MT Educare surged over 12 percent and locked at its upper circuit limit at this point of time.

The BSE Sensex opened at 17,276.87; about 77 points higher compared to its previous closing of 17,199.40, and has touched a high of 17,347.85 while low remained its opening.

The index is currently trading at 17,336.15, up by 136.75 points or 0.80%. There were 28 stocks advancing against just 2 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 75.50% stocks advancing against 21.01% declines. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 1.14% and 1.11% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Metal up by 1.48%, Bankex up by 1.47%, CG up by 1.29%, Power up by 1.29% and Realty up by 1.20%. While, there were no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 2.35%, Hindalco up by 2.93%, SBI up by 1.92%, Tata Steel up by 1.89% and Tata Power up by 1.66%.

On the flip side, Sun Pharma was down by 0.48% and Infosys was down by 0.23% were the only losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, capital investment in agriculture and allied sectors in the country rose by a whopping 87% in FY'11 as compared to FY'05 as per the annual report of Department of Agriculture and Cooperation. As per the annual report, for the year 2011-12, Gross Capital Formation (GCF) in agriculture and allied sectors in 2010-11 was Rs 142,254 crore, it was Rs 76,096 crore in 2004-05.

According to the report, the increased investment has been possible because of the initiatives taken by the government to make agriculture a sustainable vocation. Public sector has invested in irrigation works, command area development, land reclamation, afforestation and development of state farms. Whereas participation from the private sector came in the areas of construction activities including improvement/reclamation of land, construction of non-residential buildings, farm houses, wells and other irrigation works.

The capital investment is measured in terms of GCF relative to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Capital investment in agriculture and allied sectors has witnessed a steady increasing trend in recent years. It has risen from 13.5% of GDP in 2004-05 to 20.1% in 2010-11.

As one of the world's largest agrarian economies, the agriculture sector (including allied activities) in India accounted for 14.2% of the gross domestic product (GDP), at constant 2004-05 prices during 2010-11, as per Central Statistics Office (CSO) of India.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,246.75; about 20 points higher compared to its previous closing of 5,226.85, and has touched a high of 5,270.20 while low remained its opening.

The index is currently trading at 5,267.75, higher by 40.90 points or 0.78%. There were 44 stocks advancing against just 6 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were BHEL up by 2.45%, SAIL up by 2.33%, Hindalco up by 2.02%, Tata Steel up by 2.01% and Sterlite Industries up by 1.96%.

On the flip side, Dr Reddy down by 0.60%, Sun Pharma down by 0.52%, Wipro down by 0.50%, Ranbaxy down by 0.20% and Infosys down by 0.09%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the positive terrain; Shanghai Composite was up 9.24 points or 0.40% to 2,318.16, Hang Seng was up 72.16 points or 0.36% to 20,212.83, Jakarta Composite was up 12.64 points or 0.31% to 4,142.65, KLSE Composite was up 3.76 points or 0.24% to 1,600.93, Nikkei 225 was up 13.48 points or 0.14% to 9,472.22, Straits Times was up 18.24 points or 0.62% to 2,964.68 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 10.01 points or 0.13% to 7,666.68.

On the flip side, Seoul Composite was down by 18.88 points or 0.95% to 1,975.53 remained the lone loser in the Asian region.