Nifty above 5400 led by upmove in Asian mkts

The benchmark Nifty inched back above the 5400 level for the first time in last four sessions, led by buying across sectors. Positive global cues was the main reason behind today's rally, which took the Sensex above 18,000-mark at 12:06 hours. Also, marginal fall in inflation further added impetus to the rally.

Experts feel that markets are likely to see pre-budget rally. Ambareesh Baliga of Karvy Stock said that the markets may touch around 5,500-5,600 because this bounce back will also tally with a sort of a pre-budget rally. He also feels that the midcaps which had fallen nearly 40-50% may see better bounce back.

Inflation for the month of January was at 8.23% as against 8.43% in previous month. Manufacturing products inflation too declined at 3.75% as against 4.46% (MoM). However, primary articles inflation increased at 17.28% versus 16.46% and fuel group inflation at 11.41% versus 11.19% (MoM).

All sectoral indices were on buyers' radar - the BSE Capital Goods was the leading index with 3.6% gain. Auto, Metal, FMCG, Bank, Power and Healthcare indices were up 2-3%.

The broader indices too were following the same trend but better as compared to benchmarks - the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rallied 3-3.5%. About 14 shares advanced as against one share fell on National Stock Exchange.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 18,115, with gain of 387 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty jumped 119 points to 5,429.

On the global front, Asian markets inched up further on value buying. Shanghai rallied 2.5%. Hang Seng, Nikkei, Straits Times, Kospi and Taiwan were up 1-2%. Egypt President Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak resigned post 30-years too added into momentum.

Major contributors - SBI, ICICI Bank, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, TCS, BHEL, ITC, HDFC and Tata Steel rallied 2-3%. L&T, Tata Motors and Jindal Steel were top gainers on Nifty with 4.5-5.5% gain.

L&T has bagged EPC orders worth Rs 1,100 crore from Gujarat State Electricty Corp. Tata Motors Q3 consolidated profit after tax jumped by 3.7 times at Rs 2,424 crore and operating profit margin too improved at 14.2% versus 11.4% (YoY).

Among other largecaps - ONGC, Infosys, HDFC Bank and HUL were up more than one percent. However, only DLF and Siemens were in red among Nifty 50 stocks.

In midcap space, Manappuram, KEC International, United Breweries, Sanwaria Agro and Parsvnath jumped 10-18% while Sunteck Realty, Patel Engg, Hind National Glass, Godfrey Phillip and Aban Offshore lost 2-6%.

In smallcap space, AK Capital, Nitesh Estates, Geodesic, Hanung Toys and Shree Ram Urban shot up 16-20% whereas Dishman Pharma, Rollatainers, Sahara One, R M Mohite and Himatsingka Seide fell 5-7%.

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Sensex hits 18K; midcaps, smallcaps rally

Indian equity benchmarks continued their upside for the second consecutive day - the Nifty was inching up towards the 5400 level at 10:43 hours as global markets were on uptrend on stablility in Egypt after President Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak resigned on Friday. He handed over control of the country to the military after headed country for 30-years as a president.

About 10 shares gained as compared to one share declined on NSE Nifty 50. Financial, metal, capital goods, auto and power companies' shares were leading the markets higher. However, heavyweight Reliance Industries on sellers' radar today with nearly one percent fall as there were reports that the company may have to pay fine for insider trading.

Rakesh Arora of Macquarie Capital Securities is bullish on Indian markets. He said that the Sensex is likely to touch 22,000 by the year-end.

Arora explained that there is a renewed interest as the Indian growth story looks largely unparallel in the world.