GAP UP OPENING

After witnessing a sharp fall during last few trading sessions, key domestic bourses have witnessed rebound making a gap up opening. Moreover, the sentiments also got some support as the Indian rupee recovered sharply, appreciating 67 paise to 53.15 a dollar, which closed at 53.85 to the dollar yesterday. However, global cues remained unsupportive as overnight US stocks fell sharply as political uncertainty in Greece and the frail state of Spanish banks fueled fears that the region's debt crisis would worsen while, most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red at this point of time. Back home, sustained buying in mostly all the key heavyweights along with broader indices supported BSE's -- Sensex -- and NSE's -- Nifty -- to regain their crucial 16,600 and 5,000 mark respectively. On the sectoral front, BSE Auto, Capital Goods, Bankex, Oil & Gas, PSU, Realty and Metal indices have surged by about a percent each. In fact, all the major BSE sectoral indices are trading in green zone. The broader indices too were trading on a firm note. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,032 shares on the gaining side against 385 shares on the losing side while 54 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 16,515.62; about 36 points higher compared to its previous closing of 16,479.58, and has touched a high of 16,655.45 while low remain its opening.

The index is currently trading at 16,647.35, up by 167.77 points or 1.02%. There were 28 stocks advancing against only 1 decline on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 70.16% stocks advancing against 26.17% declines. The broader indices too were trading on a firm note; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 1.01% and 0.78% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Auto up by 1.67%, CG up by 1.45%, Bankex up by 1.24%, Oil and Gas up by 1.23% and PSU up by 1.18%. While, there were no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were M&M up by 2.72%, Cipla up by 2.17%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.01%, BHEL up by 1.73% and L&T up by 1.73%. While, Infosys down 0.53% remained the lone loser on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, India has given a strong signal that it will continue to trade with Iran despite pressure from the US. Iran too has stated that both the countries should continue to work together irrespective of what others like or do not like. India is in fact considering increasing trade with Iran through a bilateral preferential trade pact as per Joint Secretary in the Commerce Ministry, Arvind Mehta.

Trade between India and Iran amounted to $14 billion in 2010-11, of which a major part was the Indian import of crude oil. In the wake of sanctions from US and EU, Iran is looking at expanding this bilateral trade further. India too is keen on expanding trade as it believes that Iranian oil is critical for its development and that Iran can also be a good export destination for its food products. However, the two countries still face problems with regard to banking transactions for which Iran has sought permission to open a branch of Parsian Bank in Mumbai.

These comments are coinciding with the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is keen that India keeps its trade with Iran at a bare minimum level.  At a joint press conference with Clinton, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has said, Iran is 'one of the critical destinations for our external trade'.

Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar has also assured the Iranian business persons of resolving their problems, including setting up of Parsian Bank in India.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 4,984.15; about 10 points higher compared to its previous closing of 4,974.80, and has touched a high of 5,033.10 while low remain its opening.

The index is currently trading at 5,027.05, higher by 52.25 points or 1.05%. There were 48 stocks advancing against just 2 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were IDFC up by 3.17%, M&M up by 2.78%, Reliance Infra up by 2.73%, Cairn up by 2.40% and Axis Bank up by 2.38%.

On the flip side, Ranbaxy down by 1.47% and Infosys down by 0.48% remained the only losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite was down 4.44 points or 0.18% to 2,404.15, Hang Seng was down 188.68 points or 0.93% to 20,141.96, Jakarta Composite was down 11.82 points or 0.29% to 4,117.24, Nikkei 225 was down 7.51 points or 0.08% to 9,037.55, Straits Times was down 5.59 points or 0.19% to 2,895.32 and KOSPI Composite was down by 2.10 points or 0.11% to 1,948.19.

On the flip side, KLSE Composite was up 3.46 points or 0.22% to 1,588.36 and Taiwan Weighted was up 8.83 points or 0.12% to 7,484.54.