Benchmarks trade near all time highs

Extending their northward journey for seventh straight day, Indian equity benchmarks have made a gap-up opening and are trading near their all time high levels with Sensex recapturing its crucial 26,100 level and Nifty were trading tad below its psychological 7,800 mark amid firm global cues. Rally in banking stocks mainly supported the indices. Stocks like Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, SBI and ICICI Bank edged higher, as the RBI will start announcing the names of systemically important banks (D-SIBs) by August 2015. Rally in gold loans companies too aided the sentiments after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) relaxed the One lakh rupees ceiling on loans against gold jewellery.

On the global front, the US markets after a day of consolidation once again moved higher in last session on some positive economic data, including a report from the National Association of Realtors showing more than expected surge in the existing home sales in the month of June. The Asian markets too were trading mostly in the green at this point of time, extending gains from a six-year high. There was some sense of relief among the regional indices on expectation that US Fed may not raise interest rates anytime soon given the low inflation data.

Back home, there was broad-based buying witnessed in the markets and apart from the blue chips, the broader markets too equally participated in the rally. Meanwhile, none of the sectoral indices were trading in the red, while software and capital goods witnessed the maximum gains in trade. Technology, consumer durables, public sector undertaking, metal, realty and power too were trading significantly. The broader indices too were trading in-line with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,221 shares on the gaining side against 645 shares on the losing side while 70 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 26130.26; around 105 point higher compared to its previous closing of 26025.80, and has touched a high and a low of 26188.64 and 26097.84 respectively. The index is currently trading at 26147.44, up by 121.64 points or 0.47%. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 63.07% stocks advancing against 33.32% declines. The broader indices were trading in the green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices up by 0.70% and 0.51% respectively. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.46%, Capital Goods up by 1.08%, TECk up by 1.03%, Consmer Durables up by 0.88% and PSU up by 0.78%, while there was no loser on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.41%, Hindalco up by 1.81%, ICICI Bank up by 1.49%, SBI up by 1.44% and TCS up by 1.22%. On the flip side, Tata Power was down by 0.81%, Sun Pharma was down by 0.73%, HDFC was down by 0.63%, NTPC was down by 0.53% and Bharti Airtel was down by 0.42% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Steel Vishnu Deo Sai has asserted that the India will not impose restrictions on iron ore exports despite sluggish domestic production. Over the past four years, India’s iron ore production has been declining owing to the curbs on illegal mining. In the previous fiscal year, India’s iron ore production stood at 152 million tonnes, dropping India to the No.10 spot from its earlier position as the third-largest iron ore exporter.

However, the minister has cleared that iron ore output is still sufficient to meet the requirements of the domestic steelmakers. Iron ore is the main raw material for steel production. In the previous fiscal, production was 48 MT more than total consumption of 103.73 MT. Exports, however, were just 14.41 million tonnes in FY14 as a duty of 30 percent and high freight rates made Indian ore uncompetitive in global markets. Industry players such as JSW steel among other had requested the government to impose restrictions on iron ore exports.

India is world fourth largest steel maker behind China, Japan and the US with 100 mtpa steel production capacity now, up from 75 mtpa four years ago. India produced 81 million tonnes steel in the previous fiscal year. The performance of steel industry is highly correlated to overall economic growth as steel demand is derived from construction and automobile sectors. Construction sector accounts for around 60 percent of the country's total steel demand, while the automobile industry consumes 15 percent of demand. The steel industry contributes about 2 percent of the country's GDP and employs over six lakh people.

The CNX Nifty opened at 7,794.90; about 27 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 7,767.85, and has touched a high and a low of 7,809.20 and 7,784.80 respectively. The index is currently trading at 7,798.65, up by 30.80 points or 0.40%. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Bank of Baroda up by 3.37%, Infosys up by 2.45%, Hindalco up by 1.99%, PNB up by 1.58% and SBI up by 1.54%. On the flip side, Ambuja Cement down by 1.12%, HDFC down by 0.81%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.79%, Kotak Bank down by 0.79% and Sun Pharma down by 0.75% were the major losers on the index.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the green; Hang Seng gained 153.64 points or 0.65% to 23,935.75, Straits Times increased by 19.74 points or 0.60% to 3,336.65, Jakarta Composite soared 50.22 points or 0.99% to 5,133.74, Shanghai Composite spurted by 3.81 points or 0.18% to 2,079.29 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 0.34 points or 0.02% to 1,871.70.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 tumbled by 9.79 points or 0.06% to 15,333.49 and KOSPI Index was down by 0.24 points or 0.01% to 2,028.69.

Taiwan market remained shut for the trade today for Typhoon Matmo Holiday.