PSU, energy propel indices

The markets have moved up in the last couple of minutes, overcoming the sluggishness that had creeped in the morning session. PSU and energy stocks are propelling the indices. Among the rate-sensitives, the banking sector is firm, while the realty sector is seeing profit-booking. The Sensex is quoting at 16952, higher by 89 points and the Nifty is at 5086, up 19 points. The mid-cap index is up 0.5% at 6793 and the smallcap index is up 0.6% at 8552.

Meanwhile, the economy grew by an expected 8.6 per cent in the March quarter from a year earlier on the back of government and consumer spending. The manufacturing sector grew 16.3 per cent in January-March from a year earlier and farm output rose by an annual 0.7 per cent, government data showed. And for the full year to March, the economy expanded 7.4 per cent, above a government forecast of 7.2 per cent.

In the PSU space, NMDC has strengthened by 6% at Rs 282, STC has firmed up by 5.8% at Rs 377, Hindustan Copper is up 5.8% at Rs 428 and Dredging Corporation has added 5.6% at Rs 531. In the energy space, RIL has strengthened  by 0.7% at Rs 1041, IOC has added 2.3% at Rs 1157, HPCL has added 2.6% at Rs 366 and BPCL has gained 2.4% at Rs 577. And the banking space has chosen to ignore the FY GDP numbers; SBI has strengthened by 0.7% at Rs 2251, ICICI Bank has added 0.8% at Rs 871 and PNB has gained 1.4% at Rs 997.

On the other hand, the realty space is down about a per cent, with Unitech, Phoenix Mills and Sobha Developers losing more than a per cent each.

The market breadth is positive. Out of 2620 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1539 advancing stocks as against 987 declines.