TRADING FIRM

Indian equities gain strength to continue its firm trade on back of strong buying in frontline counters in late morning session. While on the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as European debt crisis seemed easing after Germany backed a European Central Bank bond-buying plan. Back home, traders were seen piling up position in IT, Auto and TECk sector. In the scrip specific development DLF firms up on reporting over three fold rise in its net profit at Rs 367.15 crore for the quarter, as compared to Rs 92.64 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.  Mahindra Satyam gains on extending partnership with Pegasystems to include Tech Mahindra. Seamec jumps on entering into contract worth $18 million with Leighton Welspun Contractors. The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5300 and 17500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1258:741 while 115 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17507.98 up by 95.02 points or 0.55% after touching a high of 17523.94 and a low of 17417.92. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a positive note; the BSE Mid cap index was up 0.59%, while Small cap index was up 0.53%.

On the BSE sectoral space, IT up by 1.24%, Auto up by 1.17%, TECk up by 1.06%, Bankex up by 0.88% and Realty up by 0.87% were the gainers while there was no loser on the index.

Tata Motors up by 2.95%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.66%, ICICI Bank up by 1.60%, Infosys up by 1.47% and Jindal Steel up by 1.43% were the gainers on the Sensex, while Hero MotoCorp down by 1.45%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.39%, NTPC down by 0.39%, RIL down by 0.13% and ITC down by 0.12% were the major losers on the index.

Meanwhile, after taking charge, the new Finance Minister P Chidambaram is attempting to restore investor confidence and has said that the government will unveil a slew of measures in the next few weeks to attract more people to invest in mutual funds, insurance policies and other well-designed instruments.

Mutual fund is one of the worst affected asset classes due to the recent turmoil in the global markets and its impact on domestic equity markets. The average asset under management (AUM) of the mutual fund industry has been falling continuously in the last two years, slumping to Rs 6,64,824 crore at the end of March 2012.

The FM said 'both the mutual funds industry and insurance sectors have turned sluggish. In the next few weeks, we will announce a number of decisions to attract more people to invest in mutual funds, insurance policies and other well-designed instruments.'

Mutual fund industry's plan to launch pension products to attract retirement money has got delayed due to taxation and other regulatory hurdles.

Chidambaram also said that the government had set up a panel to map out a plan to rein in the fiscal shortfall. The deficit for the first quarter of the current fiscal year that began in April has already crossed one-third of the full-year target.  

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,311.65, up by 29.10 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 5,315.25 and 5,281.65. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were IDFC up by 2.98%, Tata Motors up by 2.88%, Axis Bank up by 2.44%, HCL Tech by 1.85% and Infosys up by 1.53%. While, Hero Moto Co down by 1.37%, BPCL down by 1.16%, Power Grid down by 1.08%, NTPC down by 0.69% and Reliance down by 0.41% were the major losers on the index.

Asian indices were trading on mix note; Kospi Composite Index up 0.03%, Hang Seng index up by 0.30%, Straits Times up by 0.14% and Nikkei 225 up 0.61%, while  Shanghai Composite  down by 0.63%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.04%, KLSE Composite down by 0.18% and Taiwan Weighted down by 0.22%  were the losers on index.