The markets have maintained equanimity of sorts post the announcement of the index of industrial producton (IIP) numbers. While the numbers have been lower on a month-on-month and have obviously been below expectations, the reaction on Dalal Street has been muted. The Sensex is now quoting at 17157, higher by 15 points and the Nifty is at 5139, up three points. On the broader market front, the mid-cap index is down 0.3% at 6907 and the smallcap index is virtually unchanged at 8871.
The industrial productivity numbers for March has come in at 13.5% as compared to 15.1% month-on-month. Capital goods saw muted growth of 27.4% versus 44.4% in February. The manufacturing and mining sectors grew at 14.3% (16%) and 11% (12.2%) respectively.
ITC has strengthened by 1.7% at Rs 263 to emerge as the leading gainer on the BSE. Wipro has gained 1.6% at Rs 678 and Hero Honda has gained 1.5% at Rs 1920. And index heavyweight RIL has edged higher by 0.4% at Rs 1072.
The banking sector is marginally in the green. SBI is trading higher by 0.7% at Rs 2303 and HDFC Bank has added 0.7 at Rs 1960.
On the other hand, telecom stocks have extended the previous day's losses as a result of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's recommendation that operators should not be given free spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz when their licenses come up for renewal, but must pay market rates based on 3G prices. Bharti Airtel has lost 6.7% at Rs 265 and Reliance Communication has lost 1.7% at Rs 144. And M&M has shed 3.2% at Rs 543.
The market breadth has turned negative. out of 2674 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1152 advancing stocks as against 1426 declines.
