MARGINAL RECOVERY

Post steep fall of over one and half a percent in previous session, the domestic bourses have opened with marginal gains as most of the beaten down stocks were on the investors' radar, but the fall in Infosys and SBI capped the upside. However, global cues remained discourteous as the US markets made a mixed start of the first trading day of the week on European concern while, most of the Asian counters were trading in the negative terrain at this point of time. Back home, the international ratings agency has not only downgraded India's growth outlook to 'negative', but also lowered the rating outlook of seven public sector companies including heavyweights like NTPC, SAIL and IOC to 'negative'. Meanwhile, the Indian rupee depreciated by 7 paise to 55.99 to the US dollar. On the sectoral front fast moving consumer goods, healthcare and auto remained the top gainers while, realty, banking and power witnessed the most selling pressure, dragging down the Sensex. In the meantime, Aviation stocks like Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways and SpiceJet were down 1-2% on report that domestic carriers have cut airfares by 5-20 percent after being pressured from the regulator. Moreover, the broader indices too were struggling to get some traction while, the market breadth on the BSE was equally divided; there were 684 shares on the gaining side against 694 shares on the losing side while 76 shares remained unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex opened at 16,681.89; about 24 points higher compared to its previous closing of 16,705.83, and has touched a high of 16,802.90 while low remain its opening.

The index is currently trading at 16,758.14, up by 52.31 points or 0.40%. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has been evenly divided with 47.04% stocks advancing against 47.73% declines. The broader indices were trading flat; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.12% while small cap index rose 0.02%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, FMCG up by 0.79%, HC up by 0.50%, Auto up by 0.42%, Oil and Gas up by 0.42% and Metal up by 0.42%. While, Realty down by 0.42%, Bankex down by 0.42%, Power down by 0.40%, PSU down by 0.16% and IT down by 0.05% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 1.23%, Tata Steel up by 1.22%, Tata Motors up by 1.20%, Cipla up by 1.02% and Sun Pharma up by 0.91%.

On the flip side, BHEL was down by 1.17%, Infosys was down by 0.75%, SBI was down by 0.70%, NTPC was down by 0.57% and Bajaj Auto was down by 0.52% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in the midst of persisting global economic turmoil, India has been increasing its investment in US Treasuries since the start of this year and holds US government securities worth $51.2 billion till April. This is also the first time since April 2011 that the value of India's investments in US Treasuries crossed the $50 billion mark. With euro-zone turmoil threatening to worsen the already fragile global economy, in the hope of safer option, many emerging nations struggling with slowdown has started investing in US government securities.

According to the data available from the US Treasury department, India's investments in US Treasuries has increased to $9 billion since the first 4-months of 2012, by the end of April, India holds securities worth of $51.2 billion compared to $42.8 billion in January. Showing signs of increase, India's investment in US Treasuries rose to $44.1 billion in February, which further climbed up to $46.7 billion in March, which again went up by $5 billion in between March & April.

This is mainly due to the uncertainty over the future of euro, the currency which is shared by 17 European nations. The prevailing world economic situation and overall volatility in currency markets have also made the US dollar a safe haven. As on April, India's investment in US Treasuries is higher than any developed nations including South Korea $41.6 billion and Italy $24.6 billion.

China, which is the largest holder of US treasury securities, holds up to $1.145 trillion at the end of April, while Japan is the second biggest holder of US treasury securities, which were worth $1.066 trillion in April. The US is the world's largest economy that grew up to 1.9% in the three months ended March 2012.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,050.80; about 14 points higher compared to its previous closing of 5,064.25, and has touched a high and a low of 5,086.50 and 5,049.60 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,071.95, up by 7.70 points or 0.15%. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Tata Motors up by 1.37%, ITC up by 1.30%, Tata Steel up by 1.13%, Cipla up by 1.05% and ONGC up by 1.01%.

On the flip side, ACC down by 1.72%, Cairn down by 1.51%, Ambuja Cement down by 1.11%, Bank of Baroda down by 1.10% and BHEL down by 0.89%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite declined 12.57 points or 0.54% to 2,303.48, Hang Seng Index shed 45.47 points or 0.23% to 19,382.34, Nikkei 225 slipped 22.42 points or 0.26% to 8,698.60, KOSPI Composite Index dipped 0.21 points or 0.01% to 1,891.92 and Taiwan Weighted dropped 20.27 points or 0.28% to 7,261.23.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite rose 2.89 points or 0.07% to 3,863.04, KLSE Composite advanced 6.26 points or 0.40% to 1,588.99 and Straits Times Index gained 19.14 points or 0.68% to 2,843.36.