Benchmarks trim gains; trade continues in green

Indian equity benchmarks trimmed their gains but continued to trade in green in the late afternoon session in absence of any positive upside trigger. Investors have started taking cautious approach ahead of Q4GDP data and RBI’s monetary policy review scheduled on Tuesday for outlook on inflation and expectations on the new government’s budget. Traders were seen piling up positions in Realty, HealthCare and FMCG stocks, while selling was witnessed in Bankex, Auto and Consumer Durables sector stocks.  Hectic activity was witnessed in defence related stocks on Union Government’s decision to allow 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in defence sector. In scrip specific development, DLF, India’s largest realty company, was trading in green after posting a net profit of Rs 410 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2014 compared to Rs 196 crore in the year-ago period, while Jammu & Kashmir Bank was trading weak on media reports indicating that the bank has undisclosed amount of Rs 2,500 crore as stressed loan.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red, while the European markets too traded mostly on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 7,200 and 24,200 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1570:1275 while 108 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24241.10, up by 6.95 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 24,353.59 and 24167.94. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading higher; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.46%, while Small cap index up by 0.62%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.05%, HealthCare up by 1.48%, FMCG up by 1.10%, Metal up 0.84% and Power up 0.79%. While, Bankex down by 0.94%, Auto down by 0.51% and Consumer Durables down by 0.50% were the losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 4.94%, NTPC up by 2.79%, ONGC up by 2.46%, Cipla up by 2.17% and Tata Steel up by 1.84%.

On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.38%, SBI down by 1.85%, HDFC Bank down by 1.12%, Tata Motors down by 1.12% and Axis Bank down by 0.89%.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has unveiled a 10-point agenda for good governance. Assigning maximum importance to bureaucratic empowerment and good governance, Prime Minister told ministers to prepare a detailed action plan for the first 100 days in office and resolve all issues left pending by the previous government on a priority basis.

Ministries should give focus on delivery and implementation and agenda for governance should be embedded into day-to-day functioning and policy making, he added. Prime Minister’s latest agenda for good governance highlighted 10-point framework include build up confidence in bureaucracy, give priority to education, health, water and power, mechanism for inter-ministerial issues, addressing concerns about economy, stability and sustainability in government policy, give bureaucrats independence to work without pressure, transparency in governance, infrastructure development, implement policy in time bound manner and people orientated system for better addressing people’s problems. 

Narendra Modi has also reiterated the importance of dealing with states' problems on a priority basis and told cabinet ministers to share their workload with junior ministers such as state ministries. In order to strengthen the federal structure, there is a need to take the states along with the Centre, he added. Prime Minister has started the process of scrutinizing bills which have lapsed in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and need to be revived.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7,239.30, up by 3.65 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 7,272.50 and 7,118.45. There were 30 stocks advancing against 19 declining while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HUL up by 5.19%, NTPC up by 3.02%, ONGC up by 2.50%, DLF up by 2.40% and Tech Mahindra up by 2.30%.

On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.76%, SBI down by 1.92%, Tata Motors down by 1.25%, HDFC Bank down by 1.23% and ACC down by 1.20% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were mostly in red; Shanghai Composite down by 0.07%, Jakarta Index declined 0.97%, Straits Times down by 0.02%, Nikkei 225 descended by 0.34% and Taiwan Weighted slid 0.36% while, Hang Seng advanced 0.31%.

The European markets were trading mostly in red, with France’s CAC 40 was down by 0.47% and UK’s FTSE 100 lost 0.17% while, Germany’s DAX was up by 0.09%.