BOUNCE BACK

The Indian equity markets have bounced back on Friday's morning trade after witnessing a tumbling performance in yesterday's trade as hopes of aggressive rate-cut by RBI in its mid-quarter policy review on June 18 had been dashed by higher inflation. Moreover, firm global cues supported the sentiments as US markets bounced back overnight on inflating hopes that additional stimulus is on the way from the Federal Reserve while, most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green at this point of time. Back home, sustained buying in mostly all the key heavyweights along with broader indices supported BSE's -- Sensex -- to regain their crucial 16,750 mark. Public sector undertaking witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by realty and banking while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were trading in-line with benchmarks. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 951 shares on the gaining side against 379 shares on the losing side while 69 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 16,701.28; about 24 points higher compared to its previous closing of 16,677.88, and has touched a high of 16,817.27 while low remained its opening. The index is currently trading at 16,776.60, up by 98.72 points or 0.59%. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 67.98% stocks advancing against 27.09% declines. The broader indices were going neck to neck with benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 0.59% and 0.41% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, PSU up by 1.09%, Realty up by 0.98%, Bankex up by 0.90%, Oil and Gas up by 0.89% and CD up by 0.76%. While, there were no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 1.85%, Gail up by 1.58%, Coal India up by 1.44%, Tata Motors up by 1.41% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.35%.

On the flip side, Bajaj Auto was down by 1.83%, Bharti Airtel was down by 0.67%, Cipla was down by 0.16%, Dr Reddy was down by 0.15% and HDFC was down by 0.09% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Petroleum minister Jaipal Reddy has blamed high crude oil price for the decline in India's GDP growth to 6.9 per cent last year from 8% in the past.

India's annual average cost of imported crude oil increased by $27 per barrel over the last two financial years (2010-11 and 2011-12) taking country's oil import bill to $140 billion from $100 billion. Petroleum minister opined that a sustained $10 increase in oil prices will lead to a 1.5% reduction in the GDP of developing countries.

He further stated that higher international oil prices will lead to a domestic inflation, increased input costs and an increased budget deficit, which invariably raises interest rates and slows down the economic growth. Net oil importing countries like India will experience deterioration in their balance of payments, putting downward pressure on exchange rates. Resulting in imports becoming more expensive and exports less valuable, leading to a drop in real national income.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,069.55; about 15 points higher compared to its previous closing of 5,054.75, and has touched a high and a low of 5,096.60 and 5,069.15 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,087.90, higher by 33.15 points or 0.66%. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were IDFC up by 2.10%, SAIL up by 1.92%, JP Associates up by 1.85%, ACC up by 1.68% and ONGC up by 1.62%.

On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.99%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.77%, BPCL down by 0.51%, BHEL down by 0.41% and Cipla down by 0.36%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite rose 1.46 points or 0.06% to 2,297.40, Hang Seng Index surged 216.96 points or 1.15% to 19,025.36, Jakarta Composite advanced 16.54 points or 0.44% to 3,808.16, KLSE Composite rose 7.13 points or 0.45% to 1,578.07, Nikkei 225 ascended 26.99 points or 0.31% to 8,595.88, Straits Times Index gained 10.49 points or 0.38% to 2,784.30 and Taiwan Weighted surged 74.23 points or 1.05% to 7,149.33.

On the other hand, KOSPI Composite Index sank 13.60 points or 0.73% to 1,857.88.