MARGINAL GAINS

Stock markets in India have gradually inched up to the day's highs in afternoon trade after displaying a lackluster performance for most part of session. The benchmark gauges traded with marginal gains of around a quarter percent and sailed well above the psychological 17,100 (Sensex) and 5,200 (Nifty) levels. The frontline equity indices traded with a positive bias as it became increasingly certain that in the backdrop of weak February industrial production numbers and slight moderation in March WPI inflation to 6.89% v/s 6.95% in February, the Indian central bank would start the liquidity easing cycle by cutting key interest rates. Investors piled up hefty positions in the Capital Goods counter as the lower manufacturing inflation numbers will give comfort for the RBI to deliver a 25 bps rate cut. While, the interest rate sensitive Banking, Realty and Automobile counters too gained traction in the session. The local bourses even went on to outperform all its Asian peers in the session which traded with notable losses as market participants remained influenced by the plunge in US markets over weekend. Apart from the US concerns the regional worries too have gripped the investors, as Bank of Korea cut its economic growth estimate and concerns over the Europe's debt crisis deepened too. However, the European markets on the other hand traded on a mixed note, failing to give any clear direction to the domestic markets. However, the information technology counters continued to languish at the bottom of the table with over half a percent cuts, despite the brutal butchery they suffered in the previous session after bellwether Infosys announced its gloomy guidance for the year. The upside in local markets was also capped due to the plunge in index heavyweight Reliance Industries. Besides, the rise in bond yields and continued depreciation in Indian rupee against a US dollar too played on mind of investors.

Moreover, the broader markets traded on an optimistic note with gains of around half a percent, outperforming their larger peers by a fat margin. The bourses traded on good volumes of over Rs 0.6 lakh crore while the market breadth on BSE was in favor of advances in the ratio of 1618:914 while 131 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,118.74 up by 24.23 points or 0.14% after trading as high as 17,118.74 and as low as 17,010.16. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a positive note; the BSE Mid cap index advanced 0.57% and Small cap gained 0.44%.

On the BSE sectoral space, Capital Goods up 0.93%, Realty up 0.86%, Bankex up 0.82%, FMCG up 0.68% and Consumer Durables up 0.54% were the major gainers, while TECk down 0.64%, Oil & GAS 0.56% and IT down 0.55% were the only laggards in the space.

SBI up 1.79%, Maruti up 1.78%, Jindal Steel up 1.35%, ITC up 1.12% and BHEL up 1.08% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while Infosys down 1.27%, Bharti Airtel down 1.21%, Hindalco down 1%, RIL down 0.97% and Sun Pharma down 0.92% were the major losers in the index.

Meanwhile, India's services sector has witnessed a growth of a whopping 62% in the inflow of FDI during April-January last fiscal. The growth has come in at a time when the global economy is witnessing a slowdown and leads one into believing that India is emerging as a safe bet for foreign investment.

As per official data, the financial and non-financial services sector had attracted FDI worth $4.83 billion during the 10-months period of 2011-12 as compared to $2.98 billion in the same period of previous year. Total FDI inflows amounted to $26.19 billion during the 10-month period registering an increase of 53%.The sectors that attracted sizeable FDI inflows include drugs and pharmaceutical ($3.20 billion), construction ($2.23 billion), telecommunications ($1.99 billion) and power ($1.56 billion).

During the period, the highest FDI of $8.91 billion came from Mauritius, followed by Singapore ($4.30 billion) and Japan ($2.75 million). The investment trend is encouraging and reflective of the level of confidence of investors in India's growth story.

Though economic growth in India has declined in FY'12 to 6.9%, the economy is still among the best performing in the world. The growth figures, as per government estimates, are expected to improve to 7.6% in the current fiscal. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has also projected a moderate increase in growth rate for India to 7% in the current fiscal. 

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,211.80, higher by 4.35 points or 0.08% after trading as high as 5,214.10 and as low as 5,183.50. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were JP Associates up 2.20%, SBI up 1.97%, Maruti up 1.90%, Axis Bank up 1.88% and R Com up 1.48%.

Ambuja Cement down 2.30%, ACC down 1.85%, Bharti Airtel down 1.61%, Infosys down 1.31% and Hindalco down 1.16% were the major losers on the index.

In the Asian space, Shanghai Composite eased 0.11%, Hang Seng declined 0.68%, Jakarta Composite lost 0.27%, KLSE Composite down 0.27%, Nikkei 225 plummeted 1.74%, Straits Times inch down 0.06%, Seoul Composite declined 0.81% and Taiwan Weighted sank 0.75%.

The European markets were trading in red as France's CAC 40 declined 0.20%, Germany's DAX slipped 0.48% and Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.09%.