Nifty holds 6050; Aurobindo Pharma, Tata Motors most active

Moneycontrol BureauLive Market Commentary

12:55pm Market Unmoved by trade data

Trade deficit for January stood at USD 9.92 billion as against USD 10.14 billion in previous month and USD 18.97 billion in a year-ago period.

Imports increased (down 18.1 percent on yearly basis) to USD 36.67 billion versus USD 36.49 billion on month-on-month basis while exports jumped (3.8 percent Y-o-Y) to USD 26.75 billion from USD 26.35 billion M-o-M.

12:35pm Dr Reddy's Labs to announce Q3 earnings today

According to CNBC-TV18 poll, analysts expect Dr Reddy's Labs to report profit after tax of Rs 506 crore in October-December quarter as against Rs 363.3 crore in a year-ago period.

Revenue may grow 23 percent year-on-year to Rs 3,520 crore while operating profit margin may expand 670 basis points Y-o-Y to 22.5 percent.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation is likely to increase to Rs 791 crore versus Rs 452.5 crore during the same period.

12:25pm Sugar stocks sweeten ahead of CCEA meeting

Sugar stocks like Shree Renuka, Balrampur Chini Mills and Bajaj Hindusthan are on buyers’ radar ahead of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting today on sugar subsidy. Shares of Shree Renuka jumped 4 percent, Bajaj Hindusthan rallied 6 percent while Balrampur Chini Mills rose 3.5 percent.

The government is likely to decide on subsidy for export of 4 million tonnes of raw sugar. The CCEA had been twice deferred the decision on fixing the export subsidy this week as agriculture minister Sharad Pawar was in favour of higher subsidy of Rs 3,500 per tonne as against Rs 2,000 per tonne proposed by the food ministry.

12:10pm Market Expert

Gautam Shah, Associate Director & Technical Analyst, JM Financial feels the Nifty will broadly trade in the range of 5950-6350. However, he adds that the near term trend looks weak. At worse, he feels Nifty may hit 5700 levels in the near-term.

He further forecasts a weakness in Bank Nifty, and says it could head lower to 9100-9200 from current 10282.

He expects Dow Jones to move lower to 14500-14700 levels in the near-term and forecasts a 8-10 percent drop in S&P 500.

12:00pm The market maintained its positive momentum in noon trade supported by banks, technology, capital goods and Tata group stocks.

The Sensex climbed 68.97 points to 20,403.24, and the Nifty rose 17.50 points to 6,070.95. About 1104 shares have advanced, 1037 shares declined, and 111 shares are unchanged.

Tata Motors kept its top position in the buying list post strong Q3 earnings, rising nearly 3 percent. TCS, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel and Tata Power climbed over a percent.

Infosys, HDFC, Larsen & Toubro, ONGC, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India and Axis Bank continued to see buying interest.

However, index heavyweight Reliance Industries fell 0.7 percent. Bharti Airtel, Hero Motocorp, Hindalco Industries, Coal India and NTPC slipped 1-2 percent.

Aurobindo Pharma, Tata Motors, Cipla, Asian Paints, Aban Offshore, TCS, Bharti Airtel and HCL Technologies are most active shares on exchanges.