Telecom stocks in demand

A bout of volatility was witnessed as key benchmark indices trimmed gains after extending intraday gains in early afternoon trade. At 12:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 36.10 points or 0.15% at 24,919.69. The gains for the Nifty 50 index were higher in percentage terms than those for the Sensex. The Nifty was currently up 23.70 points or 0.31% at 7,626.90. The Sensex failed to retain the psychologically important 25,000 level which it had crossed at the onset of trading session.

The Sensex rose 117.06 points or 0.47% at the day's high of 25,000.65 at the onset of the trading session. The barometer index lost 25.54 points or 0.1% at the day's low of 24,858.05 in early trade. The Nifty rose 35.45 points or 0.46% at the day's high of 7,638.65 at the onset of the trading session. The index lost 9 points or 0.11% at the day's low of 7,594.20 in early trade.

In overseas stock markets, Asian stocks witnessed a mixed trend. US stocks closed lower yesterday, 5 April 2016, on concerns about the upcoming corporate results and slowdown in global growth.

Closer home, the market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was strong. On BSE, 1,402 shares rose and 797 shares fell. A total of 104 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently off 0.01%, underperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.5%, outperforming the Sensex.

Auto stocks edged higher. Tata Motors (up 2.15%), Hero MotoCorp (up 1.37%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 1.2%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.41%), Eicher Motors (up 0.88%), Escorts (up 0.53%), Bajaj Auto (up 0.56%) and TVS Motor Company (up 0.41%) rose. Ashok Leyland (down 1.65%) declined.

Telecom stocks were in demand. Bharti Airtel (up 2.22%), Idea Cellular (up 2.61%) and Reliance Communications (up 1.01%) edged higher.

Realty stocks rose. D B Realty (up 0.8%), DLF (up 1.5%), Housing Development and Infrastructure (up 1.52%), Sobha (up 1.03%), Indiabulls Real Estate (up 0.94%), Oberoi Realty (up 0.55%) and Godrej Properties (up 0.81%) edged higher. Prestige Estates Projects (down 1.63%) and Unitech (down 0.4%) edged lower.

RPG Life Sciences jumped 14.82% at Rs 268.10 after the company said it has received good manufacturing practice (GMP) certificate from Bavarian Authority, a competent authority in Germany, as per EUGMP standards for its formulation manufacturing facility at GIDC Industrial Estate, Ankleshwar, Gujarat. Bavarian Authority conducted audit of the manufacturing facility in early March 2016, RPG Life Sciences said. CT Renganathan, Managing Director, RPG Life Sciences said that the certification will help in boosting sales by expanding the company's geographical presence in the European markets. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 5 April 2016.

Meanwhile, the outcome of a monthly survey showed that growth in India's services sector accelerated last month on the back of a marked and accelerated increase in new business. On the flip slide, the latest data indicated that businesses still operated below capacity, as backlogs declined at the quickest rate in seven years. The seasonally adjusted Nikkei India Services purchasing managers' index (PMI) edged higher to 54.3 in March from 51.4 in February. Sub-sector data indicated that the services sector activity rose in five out six categories, with the sole exception being Transport & Storage. Services input costs and output charges rose at relatively weak rates. Indian services companies remained optimistic that activity will increase further over the coming 12 months. The level of confidence was at a nine-month high, with positivity linked to favourable government policies and forecasts of a pick-up in demand.

In its bid to boost economic growth, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced a reduction of 25 basis points (bps) in its benchmark lending rate viz. the repo rate to 6.5% from 6.75% after a scheduled monetary policy review yesterday, 5 April 2016. The central bank also announced the fine-tuning of its liquidity management framework. While retaining the accommodative stance of the monetary policy, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan indicated in his monetary policy statement that the RBI may cut the repo rate further in the coming months if macroeconomic and financial developments provide room for further rate cut.

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