The main Indian equity indices have managed to sustain modest gains in mid morning trade, with the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty extending the previous session's gains on the back of encouraging manufacturing sector data out of the US and China.
At 10:59am ( IST), the BSE Sensex was 17,405 up 87 points over the previous close. It had earlier touched a day’s high of 17,432 and aday’s low of 17,367. It opened at 17,370
NSE Nifty was quoting 5,272 up 23 points over the previous close.It has earlier touched a day’s high of 5,279 and a day’s low of 5,254. It opened at 5,254.
Infosys, Wipro, ICICI Bank, DLF, SBI,Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto, M&M, HUL were among the notable leaders in the Sensex and the Nifty.
Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, ONGC, Coal India, Tata Power, were among the notable losers in the Sensex and the Nifty
The BSE Small-Cap and BSE Mid-Cap index was trading up 1%.
Bankex, Power, Realty,Metal , HC, Consumer Durables,FMCG, Consumer Goods Power, IT, Teck, indices are the gainers.
Auto, Oil and Gas, PSU indices was the only loser.
Shares of HUL are up smartly after the FMCG titan came out with robust Q4 FY12 results.
Bharti Airtel has advanced after declaring its Q4 FY12 results.
Hero MotoCorp and M&M have gained after announcing strong April sales while Tata Motors and Maruti are in the red.
Bajaj Auto is down after reporting a 4% growth in April sales.
Barring Auto, Oil & Gas and PSU indices, most sectoral indices on the BSE and NSE are trading with a positive bias.
Consumer Durables is the top gainer so far followed by Teck, FMCG and IT. Banking, Metals, Pharma, Realty and Capital Goods indices have posted modest gains. The Power index is subdued.
The INDIA VIX on the NSE has rallied ~1.6% to 18.10 after being as high as 18.31. It opened at day's low of 17.82.
Meanwhile, the pace of growth in India's manufacturing sector improved in April, supported by expanding order books, but slower output growth and increasing price pressures dampened sentiment, the HSBC-Markit survey showed today.
The HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by Markit, rose to 54.9 in April from 54.7 in March.
The index has remained above the 50-mark that divides growth from contraction for more than three years.
Separately, Tom Byrne, a senior vice president of rating agency Moody's Investors Service said that India has some leeway to get reforms back on track with its long-term growth prospects firm.
"There is no imminent funding crisis because of policy slippages," Byrne told reporters at the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) annual meeting in Manila.
Standard & Poor's last week cut India's outlook to negative from stable, citing its large fiscal deficit and expectations of only modest progress on reforms given political constraints.
Asian stock indices were trading higher after manufacturing PMI data out of China and the US showed renewed strength.
The Shanghai Composite Index was up ~1.8% while the Hang Seng Index was up 1.2%. South Korea’s Kospi index rose 0.8%. All these markets were shut on Tuesday.
The Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.6%, while the Australian S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.2%.
Investors across Asia were encouraged by a report that showed manufacturing activity grew last month at the fastest pace since June 2011 in the US, the world's largest economy.
The Institute for Supply Management’s index of US manufacturing rose to 54.8 in April, the highest since June, from 53.4 a month earlier, the Tempe, Arizona-based group’s report showed yesterday.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose by 66 points, or 0.5%, to close at 13,279.40, the highest since December 2007.
Much of Europe was also closed for a holiday on Tuesday.
A mid-week break has brought in renewed energy and inspiration for the global equity markets. A positive opening was spurred by the overnight rally in the overseas markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at the highest level since Dec. 2007 on the back of strong manufacturing PMI data. European markets open for trading finished higher with the UK’s FTSE 100 pacing the gains.
Asian markets are trading mostly positive today after official data and HSBC data showed strength in China’s key manufacturing sector and Australia’s central bank cut interest rates.
On the flip side, the domestic data continues to show weakness. Exports fell in March while FY12 trade gap hit a record high. The core sector grew by a mere 2% in March.
HUL and FMCG stocks are in focus after the sector bellwether announced strong Q4 earnings. Auto stocks are also in the spotlight after companies reported March sales.
Bharti Airtel and Hero MotoCorp will announce their Q4 numbers today.
The Samvardhana Motherson Finance Ltd. IPO opens today as well.
Provisional FII figure for Monday was encouraging but the market will be cautious as the GAAR controversy is yet to be resolved.
Key Results Today: Alembic, Bharti Airtel, Birla Corp, Century Textiles, Hero MotoCorp, Kansai Nerolac, Mahindra Ugine, Orient Paper, PNB Gilts, Sun Pharma Advance Research, Timken India and VIP Industries.
Trend in FII flows: The FIIs were net buyers of Rs 4.79bn in the cash segment on Monday while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers of Rs 2.46bn, as per the provisional figures released by the NSE.
The FIIs were net buyers of Rs 9.8bn in the F&O segment on Monday, according to the provisional NSE data.
The foreign funds were net sellers of Rs 3.31bn in the cash segment on Friday and Saturday (combined), according to the SEBI figures.
Global Data Watch: China HSBC manufacturing PMI, Germany manufacturing PMI, Germany unemployment rate, Eurozone manufacturing PMI, UK M4 money supply, UK construction PMI, Eurozone unemployment rate, US ADP employment report, US factory orders and speech by the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Jeffrey M. Lacker.