Markets finish higher amid volatile trades

Markets recovered in the last hour of trading and closed higher with Nifty settling comfortably above the 8,000 mark led by a rally in auto and banking shares.

 

Provisionally, the Sensex climbed 138 points to end at 26,725 levels and the Nifty gained 46 points to close at 8,060 levels. 

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(updated at 3:30 PM)

Markets have recovered in the late trades as investors resort to buying stocks at attractive valuations amid short covering.

A smart rally in the banking stocks have lifted the indices higher on reports that the government will infuse fresh capital in the government-run banks this year to bolster risk buffers and credit growth. SBI, PNB, Canara Bank, Bank of India are trading higher up to 2%.

However, weakness in the global equities on fears over Greece debt defaulting coupled with a depreciating rupee kept investors edgy.

The two-day policy meeting of the US Federal Reserve's monetary committee due later during the day is keenly awaited.

At 2:50 PM, the Sensex is up 6 points at 26,592 levels and the Nifty has climbed 5 points at 8,019 levels.

RUPEE

The rupee is trading at 64.21 on the back of to fresh capital outflows and strengthening of dollar amid weakness in local equities.

MAY TRADE DATA

The trade deficit in May narrowed a tad to $10.40 billion compared with around $11 billion in April. However, the total trade deficit widened to $21.39 billion during April-May compared with $21.32 billion in same period last financial year.

Merchandise exports in May contracted 20.19 per cent, reaching $22.34 billion compared with $28 billion a year ago in the same month and the imports in May reached $32.75 billion, down 16.52 per cent compared with $39.23 billion last year in the same month. 

STOCKS ON THE RADAR

All sectoral indices are trading in the negative territory with BSE Oil & gas, Capital Goods, Metal,Realty indices trading lower up to 1%. However, BSE Bankex, Consumer Durables, Power indices are trading higher by 0.6% each.

A broad based sell-off is evident among the metal stocks across the bourses as Chinese demand failed to pick up yet despite stimulus measures by the biggest consumer.  Vedanta, Tata Steel, Jindal Steel are down between 1-2%.

HDFC has reported 12% increase in its advance tax outgo to Rs 465 crore for the first quarter of the current fiscal. The stock is trading lower by 2%.

The Mahindra Group has clinched a multi-million dollar aerospace contract with European consortium Airbus at the Paris Air Show, marking a major milestone in the Make-in-India initiative. The stock is up 0.5%.

Shares of oil marketing companies (OMCs) were in focus and trading higher on the bourses in otherwise subdued market after these companies announced Rs 0.64 a litre increase in petrol prices and a Rs 1.35 per litre cut in diesel prices to align the domestic rates with global price benchmarks. HPCL and IOC are up 2%.

Power tariff in Delhi hiked by up to 6% by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) as it restored a surcharge to compensate the private electricity distribution companies for rise in power purchase cost. Tracking the development Tata Power is trading higher by 2.5%.