Sensex continues to trade higher; Bharti Airtel gains

Mumbai: After a small gap-up opening the Indian market was able to hold on to early morning gains. Nifty was holding 5250 mark, slowly and steadily inching towards 5300.

The breadth of the market was positive. About 1391 shares advanced, 855 shares declined, and 1173 shares remain unchanged.

The pace of growth in India's factory sector inched up in April, supported by bulging order books, but slower output growth and increasing price pressures dampened sentiment, a business survey showed on Wednesday.

The HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by Markit, rose to 54.9 in April from 54.7 in March.

Top gainers on the Nifty: HUL, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech, SAIL and TCS were trading in green with smart gains.

Top losers on the Nifty: Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, ONGC and Asian Paints lost some ground.

Buzzing Stocks

Shares in HUL advanced 2.8 per cent after beating estimates on Tuesday with a 21 per cent rise in quarterly profit, helped by higher volumes, prices and sees strong consumer demand.

CLSA upgrades the stock to "outperform" from "sell" and raises its target price to Rs 465 from Rs 370 earlier.

ICICI Bank shares rose for a fourth session after India's No. 2 lender, extending a rally after posting on Friday a larger-than-expected 31 percent rise in quarterly profit.

Bharti Airtel , India's biggest mobile phone carrier by subscribers, reported its ninth straight quarterly profit decline as intense price competition and losses on foreign exchange eroded earnings.

Bajaj Auto 's total sales in April rose 4 per cent from a year ago to 3,81,590 lakh units as growth in motorcycle sales and exports offset a decline in three-wheeler sales.

Rupee

The rupee rose 52.62/63 against the dollar in opening trade versus 52.73/74 Monday close, on strong opening for domestic stocks. Trader however says near-term outlook for rupee remains bearish on the back of weak macro outlook, global concerns.

Nifty holds 5250; HUL hits all-time high

The benchmark index Sensex surged more than 100 points in the opening bell on back of positive global cues. Buying was seen in consumer durables, FMCG, metal and realty stocks. Auto stocks were trading sluggish in trade today.

FMCG heavyweight HUL beats street expectations on Tuesday. The company posted a 21 per cent jump in profits on the back of 10 per cent volume growth. Also, an expansion in EBITDA margins by 26 per cent attributed to decline in A&P spends.

The Sensex was up 68.00 points or 0.39 per cent at 17386.81, and the Nifty was up 19.80 points or 0.38 per cent at 5267.95. About 767 shares advanced, 302 shares declined, and 2350 shares remain unchanged.

Top gainers on the Sensex were HUL, DLF, Hero Motocorp, Jindal Steel and ICICI Bank. Top losers on the Sensex were Tata Motors, ONGC, Tata Power, GAIL and Maruti Suzuki.

Auto Sales: A mixed pack so far

Maruti Suzuki reported a 3.4 per cent year-on-year rise in sales in April, the fourth month in a row that the India's top passenger car maker has reported uptick in volumes.

Tata Motors sales declined 7 per cent year-on-year in April to 60,086 units. Its commercial vehicle sales fell 6 per cent to 34,647 units in the domestic market as medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales plunged 29 per cent to 9,829 units.

Midcap Buzz

Hathway Cable, Tube Investment, FAG Bearings, State Bank of Mysore and Bank of Maharashtra were up 3-16 per cent.

3M India, SRF, Pantaloon Retail, Carborundum and Shoppers Stop were bleeding in red.

Pantaloon is set to spin off its branded retail business and list it separately on stock exchanges. The Biyani led company has invited Aditya Birla Nuvo to invest Rs 800 crore via debentures of Pantaloon Retail.

TRAI's new notification to allow Mulit-System Operators to charge a carriage fee from broadcasters. This move will benefit stocks like Hathway Cable, Den Networks and WWIL.

Nifty Chart formation

The 200-day SMA (Simple Moving Average) and 20-day EMA (Exponential Moving Average) have now shifted to 17100 / 5135 and 17400 / 5250, respectively. The ‘20-Week EMA’ is placed at 17200 / 5200 level.

"We are now witnessing a ‘Downward Sloping Trend Line’ resistance around 17350 / 5250 level. The ‘RSI’ momentum oscillator on the daily chart is signaling a positive crossover." says Angel Broking.

Forex Market

"The dollar index against six major currencies was at 78.8, up by 0.1 per cent from the previous day’s close. We expect the US dollar to attract some selling on rallies against the INR. Utilise the highs in the US$/INR May contract to sell." says ICICIdirect.com

Commodity Check

Crude prices trade near the highest level in five weeks with Nymex firm above USD 105 levels after positive US data. From the precious metals space, gold retreated from two-week highs as the data dampened speculation the Federal Reserve would adopt fresh monetary easing measures to boost growth

Across the Globe

The US markets pared their gains in the final hour of trading yesterday but still kicked off the first day of May on a positive note, with the Dow hitting its best closing high since December 2007, fueled by a better-than-expected manufacturing report. The CBOE volatility index slipped below 17.

Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5 per cent or 65.69 points at 13279.32. Nasdaq Composite was up 0.13 per cent or 4.08 points at 3050.44. Standard & Poor's 500 rose 0.57 per cent or 7.91 points at 1405.82.

In Europe, Britain's FTSE, French CAC and the DAX clocked over 1 per cent gains while Spain and Italy were was up 1.7 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively.

Asian markets were trading higher with 0.5 per cent to 1.25 per cent gain.

F&O cues:

Total Puts adds 25 lakh shares, Total Calls adds 15 lakh shares

5000 put, 5100 put and 5600 call have the Highest OI Build up

5100 put adds 2.9 lakh (6.6 per cent) shares in OI prem down 21 per cent

5000 put sheds 1 lakh (2.3 per cent) shares in OI prem down 23 per cent

5600 call adds 88K (2 per cent) shares in OI prem up 17 per cent

5200 put adds 6 lakh (18 per cent) shares in OI prem down 18 per cent

5400 call adds 4.8 lakh (13 per cent) shares in OI prem up 21 per cent

Total Nifty Futures added 6 lakh shares in OI

Stock Futures adds 1.4 cr shares in OI

Nifty PCR rose to 1.12 from 1.1

Nifty May Futures are trading at 23.2 points premium v/s 20.2 points premium to Spot

India VIX closed at 17.82 up by 1.19 per cent