MARKETS IN FINE FETTLE

Domestic markets continue to remain in fine fettle in the mid morning trade, though some of the regional peers have lost their momentum and are trading marginally in red but the local markets continue to hold their early gains. The last day's top gainer Auto gauge has once again taken the lead along with oil & gas and consumer durables, while the IT and Tech stocks are again the laggard of the trade with profit booking in  IT bellwether Infosys Technology after a below expected results, taking the sector lower. The rally of today's trade is being guided by the broader indices that are outperforming their larger peers while the banking stocks are performing well ahead of the HDFC Bank's numbers. However, the mood of the investors still remained wary as the policy rate hike is looming large after the rise in inflation for March.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,562.22, up by 175.40 points or 0.90%. The index has touched a high of 19,649.22 and a low of 19,351.51. There were 24 stocks advancing against 4 declines on the index.

The broader indices too were performing well in the trade; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices gained 0.71% and 1.26%, respectively.

The top gaining sectoral index on the BSE were, Auto up by 1.81%, Oil and Gas up by 1.61%, CD up by 1.47%, CG up by 0.98% and Bankex up by 0.93%. While IT down by 0.94% and TECk down by 0.46% were the only losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero Honda up by 5.52%, Reliance Infra up by 2.66%, RIL up by 2.13%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.07% and Sterlite Industries was up by 2.02%.

On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.45%, TCS down by 1.21%, Cipla down by 0.50% and BHEL down by 0.45% were the top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, India's port sector is up for major capacity addition as the government plans substantial investments to the tune of a total of Rs 1 lakh crore over next 10 years. Most of the investments will be in the existing 13 major ports, with a large chunk of the capital coming from the private sector.

The ministry of shipping has already identified more than 300 capacity addition projects which will be implemented in coming years. The aim is to increase total port capacity by 767 million tonne at the existing ports. Separate capacity addition will also happen through new major and minor ports and at existing miner ports. As far as existing major ports are concerned, a total of Rs 1.09 lakh crore worth investment will be involved over 300 identified capex projects. Out of this, Rs 72,870 crore are likely to be contributed by private players through the public-private-partnership schemes.

The projects have been divided into three phases for implementation depending on current traffic at the venue of the project. Projects with highest priority will be implemented within next two years and the first phase will end by 2012, when the current Five Year Plan ends. Second phase will be implemented through the 12th Five Year Plan that runs from 2012 to 2017, and the third phase will be implemented over the following three years.

Aggregate cargo handling capacity of Indian port sector currently stands at about 1 billion tonne after the recent inauguration of three major projects with a total capacity of 15 million tonne at the Ennore Port. With inauguration of these three projects, the capacity of Indian Port Sector has reached 1011 million tonne per year. However, analysts have been calling for greater investment in the port sector as there was a need to increase capacity at a rapid pace amidst strong growth in foreign trade. As India continues to growth at a rapid pace, foreign trade will grow in a much faster way and it will require nearly doubling the current capacity over next ten years.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,872.35, higher by 47.80 points or 0.82%. The index has touched a high and low of 5,897.90 and 5,810.30 respectively. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Hero Honda up by 5.28%, HUL up by 2.64%, Reliance Infra up by 2.35%, Sterlite Industries up by 2.01% and RIL up by 1.99%.

Infosys down by 1.49%, TCS down by 1.33%, Cipla down by 0.68%, BPCL down by 0.44% and BHEL down by 0.44% were the major losers on the index.

Asian market were trading mixed; Hang Seng was up 27.68 points or 0.12% to 24,035.75, KLSE Composite was up 8.02 points or 0.53% to 1,529.96, Nikkei 225 was up 1.89 points or 0.02% to 9,593.41 and Straits Times was up by 7.34 points or 0.23% to 3,160.64.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down 0.75 points or 0.02% to 3,729.76, Shanghai Composite was down 0.91 points or 0.03% to 3,049.62, Seoul Composite was down 2.45 points or 0.11% to 2,138.05 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 11.36 points or 0.13% to 8,706.76.