Indian equities regain key levels after witnessing mild profit booking

The benchmark indices, which lost some ground after reaching the day’s high levels, have recovered steadily and are trading around the psychological 5,150 (Nifty) and 17,100 (Sensex) levels. The frontline indices traded with over half a percent gains and looked set to snap the January series Futures & Options contract on a strong note. Sentiments remain sanguine as investors are covering hefty short positions not only in heavyweight stocks but largely across the board, a day after the RBI kept key policy rates unchanged but by cutting the CRR to 5.5% from 6%, easing the liquidity by Rs 32,000 core into the Indian banking system. The Metal counter on BSE shone brighty with  over one and half a percent gains followed by the IT sector which soared over a percent. Though there appeared largely across the board buying, however some profit booking was evident in Banking and Capital Goods counters which were top sectoral performers in the previous session as majors like ICICI Bank and L&T have shed some part of the gains they amassed yesterday. In the global space, Asia markets largely settled on a positive note on getting support from the rally in technology shares after Apple Inc reported record-smashing quarterly earnings that saw the company double its profits and sell more products than ever before. The European stocks too inched higher in early hours while investors awaited US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy and interest rate forecasts announcement scheduled later in the global day.

Moreover, the broader markets traded on a strong note with over a percent gains, outperforming their larger peers by a fat margin. The bourses rose on extremely strong volumes ahead of January series futures and options contract expiry later in the day. The market breadth on BSE was in favor of advances in the ratio of 1711:1011 while 114 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,093.65 up by 97.88 points or 0.58% after trading as high as 17,125.72 and as low as 17,016.69. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a positive note; the BSE Mid cap index surged 1.12% and Small cap climbed 1.03%.

On the BSE sectoral space, Metal up by 1.49%, IT up by 1.27%, TECk up by 1.21%, Auto up by 1.20%, PSU up by 1.04% were the major gainers while Capital Goods down by 0.27% was the only laggard in the space.

Tata Motors up by 3.67%, Tata Steel up by 3.04%, Sterlite Industries up by 2.47, Coal India up by 2.11%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.95% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while Jindal Steel down by 1.35%, ICICI bank down by 1.02%, Tata Power down by 0.93%, L&T down by 0.86%, Hero Moto Crop. down by 0.80% were the losers in the index.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,159.05, higher by 31.70 points or 0.62% after trading as high as 5,167.35 and as low as 5,130.25. There were 33 stocks advancing against 15 declines while two stocks remained unchanged on the index .

The top gainers on the Nifty were Rel Infra up by 6.49%, BPCL up by 4.69%, JP Associates up by 4.19%, Tata Motors up by 3.90%, Tata Steel up by 3.05%. On the other hand, Siemens down by 1.47%, Kotak Bank down by 1.38%, ICICI Bank down by 1.34%, Jindal Steel down by 1.20%, Cairn down by 1.18%.

In the Asian space, Nikkei 225 surged 1.12%, Strait Times soared 1.26% and Seoul Composite rose 0.12%

On the flipside only Jakarta Composite sank 0.78%.

Stock markets in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan remained closed in observance of Lunar New Year holiday.