Markets continue to trade in green in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks maintained their upward journey and breached all previous records amid buying witnessed in frontline blue chip stocks such as SBI, Hindalco and L&T among others. Positive global cues coupled with some positive economic related announcements provided strength to major indices and most of the sectoral indices were trading in green. Banking, capital goods and IT strock were on buyer's radar amid widespread buying by funds and retail investors and sustained capital inflows. Sentiments got a boost after central bank affirmed that economy is emerging from recession with signs of improvement in mining and manufacturing activity, reversal in the corporate investment cycle, along with improvement in macroeconomic pointers like fiscal deficit and inflation. The RBI has also stressed that the impact of weak monsoon this fiscal on India's farm production and economy is likely to be limited. Sector wise, shares of state-owned banks were trading higher by up to 4% after the finance minister Arun Jaitley said that government is taking steps to professionalise the management of PSU banks and help them strengthen their risk management system. Shares of sugar manufactures were in demand amid report that the government may give some relaxations to the sugar industry after the World Trade organization (WTO) rejected India's contention on raw sugar exports subsidy.

United Spirits has dipped nearly 4% to Rs 2,317 after the exchange has excluded the company from its equity derivatives segment as the company has not submitted results for 2013-14 and the quarter ended 30 June. Further, Tilaknagar Industries was trading higher by 3% at Rs 46.30 on media reports that Allied Blenders and Distillers, the country’s third-largest spirits company, is in talks to buyout the company.

On global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in green with Shanghai Composite up by 0.26% and Straits Times up by 0.27% after reports from US housing to manufacturing showed the world’s largest economy is strengthening. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 7,900 and 26,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,626 stocks traded, 1,368 stocks advanced, while 1,157 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26462.54, up by 102.43 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 26419.53 and 26508.27. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.34%, while Small cap index up by 0.16%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.09%, IT up by 0.88%, Capital Goods up by 0.77%, Oil & Gas up by 0.64% and TECK up by 0.60%. On the other hand , Realty down by 0.74%, FMCG down by 0.33%, Power down by 0.11%, INFRA down by 0.03% and Consumer Durables down by 0.03% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 2.92%, Hindalco up by 2.84%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.13%, Sesa Sterlite up by 1.12% and Axis Bank up by 1.12%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.29%, HDFC down by 1.21%, Coal India down by 1.21%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.02% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.70% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, foreign direct investment (FDI) in India increased by 34 percent to $1.92 billion in the month of June 2014 as compared to $1.44 billion in the same month of previous year. During the first quarter of FY15, FDI jumped by 34 percent to $7.23 billion from $5.39 billion recorded in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. 

The sectors that received highest inflows during April-June in this fiscal include telecommunications ($2 billion), services ($738 million), pharmaceuticals ($680 million) and construction ($ 281 million). Country wise, maximum FDI during the reported period was received form Mauritius at $2.61 billion, followed by Singapore ($ 1.18 billion), the UK ($567 million), Japan ($695 million) and the US ($249 million).

FDI is considered crucial for India, which requires around $1 trillion in the 12th five year plan (2012-2017) to overhaul its infrastructure sector such as ports, airports and highways to boost growth. Meanwhile, in order to attract maximum FDI into the country, the government has been liberalizing the foreign investment policy. The government has relaxed FDI norms in around 12 sectors which include telecom, tea, pension and petroleum and natural gas among others. Recently, the government has raised the foreign investment limit to 49 percent in defence manufacturing and also relaxed the policy in railway and construction sector.  During FY14, FDI inflows in India rose by 8% to $24.29 billion as against $22.42 billion in FY13.

 The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7914.95, up by 23.85 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 7903.60 and 7929.05. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.70%, Bank Of Baroda up by 2.53%,  SBI up by 2.50%, PNB up by 2.42% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.21%. On the flip side, United Spirits down by 3.11%, Sun Pharma down by 1.59%, HDFC down by 1.26%, Coal India down by 1.18% and Power Grid down by 1.14% were the top losers.

Asian equity indices were mixed; Shanghai Composite up by 5.79 points or 0.26% to 2,236.25, Straits Times up by 9.1 points or 0.27% to 3,333.19, KOSPI Index up by 12.49 points or 0.61% to 2,056.70, Hang Seng up by 97.64 points or 0.39% to 25,091.74 and Taiwan Weighted up by 126.72 points or 1.37% to 9,380.10. While, Nikkei 225 down32.48 points or 0.21% to 15,553.72 and Jakarta Composite down18.49 points or 0.36% to 5,187.65