Markets shrug off March IIP, flat trades continue

BSE Consumer Durable index has surged by almost 2% followed by counters like Auto, PSU, Oil & Gas and Banks, all gaining between 0.1-1%.

Key share indices continue to remain volatile in a narrow range, shrugging off the better than expected March IIP numbers.

India’s industrial production growth accelerated to 2.5% in March from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday. The government revised the output growth for February to 0.5% from 0.6% earlier.

Manufacturing, which constitutes about 76% of industrial production, grew 3.2% from a year earlier, the statistics office said. Capital goods production, a barometer for investments in the economy, grew an annual 6.9% from a year earlier.

By 11:45, the 30-share Sensex was up 28 points at 19,967 and the 50-share Nifty was up 5 points at 6,055.

On the global front, Asian shares eased on Friday, taking their cues from global equities which took a breather from recent rallies overnight, but Japanese equities soared to fresh five-year highs as the dollar's break above the symbolic 100 yen level underpinned sentiment.

The dollar extended its gains from Thursday to rise to a fresh four-year high of 100.87 yen earlier this session. It had previously failed to push above the 99.95 yen level it reached in early April as heavy options positions deterred a break through the key level.

Back home, the rupee today lost 32 paise to 54.57 against the dollar in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange market due to appreciation of the US currency against other currencies overseas.

On the sectoral front, BSE Consumer Durable index has surged by almost 2% followed by counters like Auto, PSU, Oil & Gas and Banks, all gaining between 0.1-1%. Apart from Metal, all the major BSE sectoral indices are trading in green zone.

Maruti Suzuki is the top Sensex gainer, higher by over 3% to Rs 1,713 after the Japanese yen hit a fresh four-year low against the dollar. The stock currently trading near to its record high of Rs 1,740 touched in September 30, 2009, in intra-day trade on BSE.

Hero Moto, M&M, Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto have gained between 1-2.5%.

Car sales in India fell an annual 10% in April, an industry body said on Friday, beginning a new financial year on the same sour note that saw annual sales fall last year for the first time in a decade.   

Automakers sold 150,789 cars in India last month compared to 1,68,354 units in the same month of 2012 as sluggish economic growth and high ownership costs continued to weigh on demand in the once-booming market.

Other notable gainers are ONGC, Dr Reddy’s Lab, Hindalco, BHEL, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel and SBI.

On the losing side, Sun Pharma, JSPL, HDFC, Coal India and Cipla have declined between 1-2%.

Among other shares, PVR is trading higher by 3% at Rs 362 after investment services provider Macquarie Bank acquired around 1% stake in multiplex chain operator via open market transactions.

The market breadth in BSE remains almost neutral with 788 shares advancing with 739 shares declining.