Markets continue to trade firm in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade firm in afternoon session on the back of buying witnessed in frontline blue chip stocks amid firm global cues. Sentiment got a support as crude prices dropped after easing of fears over supply disruption in the wake of Iraq crisis. Most of the sectoral indices were trading in green and realty was the top gaining index up by around 2.51%. Apart from blue chips, broader indices too equally participated in the rally with both mid and small cap indices trading up by around 1.50%. Shares of sugar companies continued their upward march for the second day in a row, after the government decided to hike the import duty on sugar to 40 percent from the current 15 percent to curb the inflow of cheaper sweetener. The shares of textiles were also on buyer radar as Union Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar asserted that textile ministry is keen to set up 25-30 textile parks and a couple of mega clusters for the development of industry. Buying was also witnessed in metal stocks on improved manufacturing data from China supported the sentiments. However, there was mild weakness in defensive sectors stocks such as IT and teck.

Sesa Sterlite was trading higher by around 2.4% at Rs 304 after the company said the promoters have raised their holding in the past one-and-a-half months through creeping acquisition route. IRB Infrastructure Developers was trading higher by around 4% to Rs 214 after the company said it has entered into a pact with NHAI for an Rs 2,300 crore project for widening of a highway stretch in Haryana.

On global front, Asian equity indices were trading in green with Straits Times up by 0.28% and Nikkei up by 0.10%. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 7,500 and 25,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,568 stocks traded, 1,754 stocks advanced, while 705 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25,315.54 up by 284.22 points or 1.14% after trading in a range of 25,359.97 and 25,115.83. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.45%, while Small cap index up by 1.67%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.51%, Capital Goods up by 1.94%, Power up by 1.72%, Metal up by 1.59% and Oil and Gas up by 1.38%. On the flip side, IT down by 0.36% and Teck down by 0.10% were the losing indices on BSE.    

The top gainers on the Sensex were Gail India up by 4.12%, L&T up by 2.31%, HDFC up by 2.19%, ITC up by 2.01% and SSLT up by 1.83%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.01%, Sun Pharma down by 0.53%, Wipro down by 0.22% and ONGC down by 0.01% were the top losers on the BSE.

Meanwhile, Union Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar has stated that Indian textile export is likely to touch $50 billion mark in the current fiscal. Minister added that textiles have tremendous potential and the government will provide full support to improve the industry exports. India’s textile exports recorded at around $40 billion in the FY14.

S K Gangwar further asserted that textile ministry is keen to set up 25-30 textile parks and a couple of mega clusters for the development of industry.  By adding further, he said that ministry would take steps for reform in the present labour law to benefit the large number of unorganised labour in the textile industry.

Textile industry contributes around 4 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP), around 10 percent to the country’s export earnings and nearly 14 percent to industrial production besides providing direct employment to over 45 million people. Exports have been remained a core feature of India’s textile industry. India’s global market share in trade increased to 5.2 percent in 2013 from 3 percent in 2002.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7,566.90 up by 73.55 points or 0.98% after trading in a range of 7,580.05 and 7,515.20. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Gail up by 4.20%, Bank of Baroda up by 3.82%, NMDC up by 3.28%, DLF up by 2.98% and PNB up by 2.55%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.16%, Kotak Bank down by 0.99%, Sun Pharma down by 0.69%, Cairn down by 0.63% and HCL Tech down by 0.47% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading in green; Straits Times up by 0.28% to 3,266.44, Nikkei up by 0.10% to 15,385.13, Jakarta Stock Index up by 0.36% to 4,859.64, Shanghai Composite up by 0.16% to 2,027.50, Hang Seng up by 0.36% to 22,886.29 and Taiwan Weighted up by 0.49% to 9,246.20