POSITIVE SENTIMENTS

Sentiments remained bullish in the morning trade with markets hitting more than one-week highs, extending gains for the fourth straight session on continued buying by funds and retailers amid encouraging fourth quarter corporate earnings and firming trend in Asian markets. On the global front, the US markets surged overnight on getting good economic data, US manufacturing grew in April at the strongest pace in 10 months while, all the Asian counters were trading in the positive terrain at this point of time. Back home, BSE's -- Sensex -- and NSE's -- Nifty - inching towards their crucial 17,400 and 5,300 mark respectively, supported by most of the index heavyweights along-with broader indices. On sectoral front, consumer durables witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by fast moving consumer goods and metal while, auto and oil and gas remained the only losers on the BSE sectoral space. Meanwhile, FMCG stocks got some boost after FMCG heavyweight HUL beats street expectations. The company posted a 21% jump in profits on the back of 10% volume growth. Also, an expansion in EBITDA margins by 26% attributed to decline in A&P spends. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,291 shares on the gaining side against 459 shares on the losing side while 63 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 17,370.93; about 52 points higher compared to its previous closing of 17,318.81, and has touched a high and a low of 17,432.33 and 17,367.00 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 17,390.69, up by 71.88 points or 0.42%. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 71.21% stocks advancing against 25.32% declines. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 0.77% and 1.07% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CD up by 1.51%, FMCG up by 1.00%, Metal up by 0.80%, Realty up by 0.78% and Bankex up by 0.78%. While Auto down by 0.52% and Oil and Gas was down by 0.21% remained the only losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HUL up by 3.13%, DLF up by 1.95%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.56%, Jindal Steel up by 1.45% and ICICI Bank up by 1.12%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors was down by 3.08%, ONGC was down by 1.04%, Tata Power was down by 0.52%, Maruti Suzuki was down by 0.42% and GAIL was down by 0.36% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the ministerial panel under finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has upheld the decision that allowed the Anil Ambani's Reliance Power to use excess coal from Sasan power project's mines to fuel its Chitrangi generation plant. In August, 2008, an EGoM had given approval for Reliance Power to divert surplus coal from the Sasan blocks for another project in Chitrangi. Both projects are in Madhya Pradesh.

The issue became controversial when Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) last October said in a draft audit report that government's decision resulted in windfall gain of Rs. 1.20 lakh crore to the private developer. The CAG has since reduced its windfall gain estimate to Rs 15,000 crore.

Tata Power, which participated in the bidding for the Sasan UMPP, has also challenged the government's decision in the court.

The EGoM had sought the Attorney General's (AG) legal opinion in a bid to defuse the controversy. The AG has now interpreted the decision taken in 2008 as a correct decision and has also clarified the ambiguity about the interpretation of the term 'surplus coal'. It stated that surplus coal is such coal... That is available after satisfying the needs of a UMPP.

Hence the EGoM has decided not to review its decision but has recommended that policies be made comprehensive so that there is no ambiguity in the future.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,254.30; about 6 points higher compared to its previous closing of 5,248.15, and has touched a high of 5,279.60 while low remained its opening.

The index is currently trading at 5,269.55, higher by 21.40 points or 0.41%. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HUL up by 2.71%, DLF up by 1.95%, Axis Bank up by 1.79%, SAIL up by 1.48% and IDFC up by 1.41%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.08%, ONGC down by 1.30%, Tata Power down by 0.71%, GAIL down by 0.51% and Asian Paints down by 0.45%, were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite was up 37.78 points or 1.58% to 2,434.09, Hang Seng was up 241.48 points or 1.14% to 21,335.69, Jakarta Composite was up 9.38 points or 0.22% to 4,205.37, KLSE Composite was up 7.79 points or 0.50% to 1,578.40, Nikkei 225 was up 35.27 points or 0.38% to 9,386.22, Straits Times was up 15.80 points or 0.53% to 2,994.37, KOSPI Composite was up 14.80 points or 0.75% to 1,996.79 and Taiwan Weighted  was up by 168.25 points or 2.24%  to 7,670.07.