Benchmarks trade in fine fettle in early deals

Extending their previous session's rally, Indian equity benchmarks have made a gap-up opening and are trading in fine fettle in early deals on Wednesday. Sentiments remained up-beat after India’s services exports in May rose by 8.8 percent to $13.9 billion. Import of services during the month, however, rose in double-digit of 15 percent to $8.03 billion. Rally in shares of real estate and infrastructure companies too aided the sentiments after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said banks would not have to maintain cash reserve ratio (CRR) or statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) and will not have to meet priority-sector lending targets for funds raised through bonds for extending credit to these sectors.

On the global front, the US markets made a mixed closing on a volatile day of trade, as traders focused on remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, who said that the economy continues to improve but cautioned that the recovery is not yet complete. The Asian markets were trading mostly in the green at this point of time on report that Chinese economy grew in line with the government’s target.

On the sectoral front, realty, banking and healthcare witnessed the maximum gains in trade, while consumer durables and metals remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were trading in-line with the benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1237 shares on the gaining side against 526 shares on the losing side while 62 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 25322.17; around 94 point higher compared to its previous closing of 25228.65, and has touched a high and a low of 25377.99 and 25295.73 respectively. The index is currently trading at 25322.45, up by 93.80 points or 0.37%. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a positive start with 67.78% stocks advancing against 28.82% declines. The broader indices were trading in the green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices up by 0.70% and 1.09% respectively. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 1.87%, Bankex up by 1.00%, Healthcare up by 0.74%, Oil and Gas up by 0.73% and Auto up by 0.72%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.07% and Metal was down by 0.02% were the only losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.89%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.62%, Axis Bank up by 1.37%, SBI up by 1.36% and HUL up by 1.35%. On the flip side, HDFC was down by 2.30%, SSLT was down by 0.95%, GAIL India was down by 0.88%, HDFC Bank was down by 0.62% and Bajaj Auto was down by 0.44% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, with an aim to enhance India’s apparel exports, the Apparel Exports Promotion Council (AEPC) has asked the government to expedite finalization of India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to enable better market access for Indian exporters. India's total apparel exports stood at $15.7 billion in 2013.

Over the past few years, India’s exports to FTA countries have increased significantly after signing of the FTA/PTA (Preferential Trade) agreements and these markets now account for around 12% share in India's clothing exports. The AEPC recommended the government to expedite the process of India-EU FTA finalization as India's competitors like Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia, having FTA with European nations, are enhancing their market shares in these markets. 

Exports have remained a core feature of India’s textile industry and 'readymade garments' is the largest export segment, accounting for a considerable 40 percent of total textile exports. India’s textile exports accounted around $40 billion in the FY14 and are likely to touch $50 billion mark in the current fiscal. In order to enhance the global competitiveness of textile industry, the government is presently preparing a new National Textiles Policy, which aims to formulate a stable and fibre neutral raw materials guidelines to benefit the entire value chain and to address modernization and mechanization needs of the textile industry.

The CNX Nifty opened at 7,564.15; about 38 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 7,526.65, and has touched a high and a low of 7,571.35 and 7,545.65 respectively. The index is currently trading at 7,558.40, up by 31.75 points or 0.42%. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were IDFC up by 5.03%, ICICI Bank up by 2.98%, DLF up by 1.99%, SBI up by 1.64% and Axis Bank up by 1.56%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.41%, SSLT down by 0.95%, NMDC down by 0.68%, GAIL down by 0.62% and Jindal Steel down by 0.61% were the major losers on the index.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the green; Nikkei 225 soared 1.15 points or 0.01% to 15,396.31, Hang Seng increased by 19.83 points or 0.08% to 23,479.79, Straits Times spurted by 7.76 points or 0.24% to 3,299.18, Jakarta Composite gained 44.48 points or 0.88% to 5,115.30 and Shanghai Composite was up by 1.55 points or 0.07% to 2,071.90.

On the flip side, KOSPI Index dropped 2.76 points or 0.14% to 2,009.96, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped by 1.08 points or 0.06% to 1,883.79 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 84.10 points or 0.88% to 9,485.07.