*By Rutam Vora *Amid mixed global cues backed by US Federal Reserve keeping the key interest rates unchanged at historic lows close to zero. The FOMC-meet on Wednesday pushed mixed sentiments on the US bourses on Wednesday, later it was reflected on the Indian bourses with key benchmark index, Sensex posting early gains on Thursday, June 24, 2010.
The gains on the Indian bourses were led by metal and FMCG stocks. The sectoral index, BSE Metals gained by close to 1% to 15387.31 points, while BSE FMCG index too rose by close to 1% at 3232.18 in the morning trades today. Other gainers included Capital Goods stocks as the BSE CG index posted early gains of 1.21% at 14,674.59 points. The benchmark index, Sensex gained by 0.35% to 17818 points in the morning trading hours on Thursday. *‘Monsoon Wading’ for FMCG Stocks?* The upbeat mood in the FMCG stocks is seen ahead of the declaration on the wholesale price index, inflation data for the year through 12 June 2010, including food price index, the primary articles index and the fuel price index today. Leading FMCG stocks including ITC Ltd (BOM:500875) and Ruchi Soya Industries (BOM:500368) gained momentum at the early trading hour on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) as each stock rose by over 1% on Thursday. Britannia Industries Ltd (BOM:500825) gained by close to 1%. Prices of food articles have remained a key concern for the industry as well as consumers. Recently, milk prices in Kerala have been hiked by Rs.3 a litre to Rs.23 because of rise in the price of fodder. On the other hand monsoon being crucial for the agro produces and the overall food price index, all eyes at a good monsoon ahead. However, India’s MET Department today mentioned that June 1-23 monsoon rains were down 11% from normal as monsoon progress seems to have stalled. Monsoon rains in India have been 11% lower than the long-term average until now due to a nearly one-week delay in its progress, the director general of the Indian Meteorological Department said Thursday. Monson may resume progress by early next week. *Metal Stocks regain shine * Having witnessed sustained losses for two consecutive trading sessions, metal stocks have returned back to positive territory on strong global cues. London copper jumped more than 2% on Thursday, lifting Shanghai futures aided by strong Japan output data. Copper futures on LME were up early Thursday as dollar fell on speculation that Federal Reserve will keep interest rates low. The Committee's decision to stick with its low-interest-rate policy was widely expected, given the persistently high unemployment rate and continuing weakness in housing and consumer spending. Metal stocks on Indian bourses help key benchmark indices inch upwards to positive territory in early trading session on Thursday. Mining majors including Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd (BOM:512579) and NMDC Ltd (BOM:526371) gained by 2.65% and 1% respectively, while other metal stocks including Jai Corp Ltd (BOM:512237) and Sesa Goa Ltd (BOM:500295) rose 1.2% and 1.6% respectively. Copper majors including, Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd (BOM:500900) and Hindustan Copper Ltd (BOM:513599) gained close to 1.5% each in the morning trading session on the BSE today. Nissan Copper Ltd (BOM: 532789) zoomed up by over 4% on the BSE on Thursday. Volatility is expected to remain high on Indian bourses today owing to traders’ roll over positions in the derivatives segment ahead of the expiry of the near-month June 2010 derivatives contracts today, 24 June 2010. -- Regards Hardik Shah -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""GLOBAL SPECULATORS"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalspeculators?hl=en.
