Benchmarks continue to trade in green in late morning session

After getting a gap-up start, benchmark equity indices continue to trade in fine fettle in late morning deals on continued buying activities by both funds and retail investors. Further, firm global cues coupled with the appreciation in rupee value against the dollar added to the optimistic sentiments. Overseas investors, who have been the biggest driver of the rally, continue to be buyers in the cash market, though the momentum seems to be on the wane. On Tuesday, FIIs bought shares worth Rs. 288 crore, though domestic institutional investors sold shares worth Rs. 551 crore. Meanwhile, some support also came in with an Assocham CEO survey of which around 50 per cent of Indian CEOs said they are optimistic about the Indian economy, and expect it to be stronger in the next six months.

On global front, most of the Asian stocks were trading in green as investors weighed corporate earnings ahead of the Bank of Japan and Federal Reserve report on monetary policy.US shares ended higher on the back of encouraging earnings from large corporates that beat street estimates and gains in Facebook and Twitter shares.  Back home, the gainers included Bharti Airtel that was trading up 0.73% after it reported 89% growth in its net profit to Rs 962 crore for the March quarter. However, Sun Pharma and Ranbaxy Labs fell after Andhra Pradesh High Court asked exchanges to maintain interim status quo on the Ranbaxy-Sun Pharma deal. 

Kotak Mahindra Bank, IDBI Bank, Petronet LNG, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Dewan Housing Finance Corp, Raymond, Polaris Financial Technology, Sterlite Technologies will be in focus on account of March quarter earnings announcement. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2016 stocks traded, 1283 stocks advanced, while 644 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 22637.79 up by 171.60 points or 0.76% after trading in a range of 22676.91 and 22499.10. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.73%, while Small cap index up by 0.70%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Oil & Gas up by 1.66%, PSU up by 1.14%, Bankex up by 0.88%, FMCG up by 0.78% and Auto up by 0.75%, while there were no losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Gail India up by 2.72%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 2.24%, Tata Motors up by 1.89%, RIL up by 1.78% and ONGC up by 1.73%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.24%, Sun Pharma down by 1.06%, Tata Steel down by 0.62%, Hindalco down by 0.26% and Coal India down by 0.24%.

Meanwhile, according to a World Bank report, India has replaced Japan to become the world's third biggest economy in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). The World Bank's International Comparison Program (ICP) 2014 ranked India at third place behind the US and China and reported India's share in World GDP at 6.4% to $5.75 trillion in 2011 compared with China's at 14.9% and the US at 17.1%.The ranking was based on PPP in dollar terms, under which economies and incomes of people compared by adjusting exchange to correct the differences in prices in different countries to make a meaningful comparison.

India was placed ahead of Japan because its currency was valued at 15.11 a dollar on a PPP basis in 2011, while the East Asian nation's currency was pegged at 107.45 to a dollar. The last World Bank survey took place in 2005 and placed India at 10th place.

The report further added that the spread of per capita actual individual consumption as a percentage of the US has reduced, indicating that the world has become more equal. It further highlighted that economies must be valued at a common price level and expressed in a common currency. Presently, countries estimate their GDP at national price levels and in national currencies which are not comparable. The report will help World Bank to compare poverty levels across countries as National poverty assessments differ because the purchasing power of national currencies differs from one economy to another.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,766.00 up by 50.75 points or 0.76% after trading in a range of 6,778.70 and 6,723.65. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Gail up by 2.82%, Asian Paint up by 2.36%, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories up by 2.30%, Tata Motors up by 1.91% and BPCL up by 1.85%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.10%, Bajaj-Auto down by 1.01%, Tata Steel down by 0.59%, DLF down by 0.58% and Ambuja Cements down by 0.44% were the top losers on the index.

Most of Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite increased by 0.05%, KLSE Composite increased 0.44%, Jakarta Composite was up by 0.33%, Nikkei 225 was up by 0.13%, Straits Times was up by 0.66%. On the flip side, Hang Seng was down by 1.45%, Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.70%, and KOSPI slipped by 0.32%.