Benchmarks continue to trade in green in late morning session

After getting a gap-up start, benchmark equity indices continued to trade in fine fettle in late morning deals on sustained foreign capital inflows and covering up of short positions by speculators ahead of tomorrow's monthly expiry in the derivatives segment. Besides, a firming trend on other Asian markets following another record close on Wall Street fuelled by positive data on the US economy triggered buying activity. Barring metal, Infrastructure and power, all the sectoral indices, led by consumer durables, Auto and realty, were trading in positive zone, rising up to 1.28 percent. Shares of defense equipment and manufacturers were trading higher by up to 6% after the government decided to allow foreign direct investment in defence sector. Besides, Metal shares rebounded after recent losses following the apex court's verdict on coal block allocations.

In scrip specific development, Venus Remedies has surged as much as 6% after the company has entered into an agreement with Israel-based generic drug maker Teva for selling an anti-cancer drug in Canada. On the flip side, UCO Bank has tanked as much as 8% after the reports that the government has ordered limited forensic audit into some non-performing accounts of state-owned bank to find out any irregularities in sanction of loans. On global front, Asian stock markets were mostly higher on Wednesday after the latest record close for the Standard & Poor's 500, though gains were modest and Hong Kong lost some ground after early advances. Back home, the market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2251 stocks traded, 1406 stocks advanced, while 770 stocks declined on the BSE.  

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26573.47 up by 130.66 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 26599.12 and 26549.75. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.64%, while Small cap index gained 0.98%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.28%, Auto up by 0.91%, Realty up by 0.73%, FMCG up by 0.68% and Capital Goods was up by 0.64% while, Power down by 0.26%, Infrastructure down by 0.25% and Metal was down by 0.21% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 2.32%, ICICI Bank up by 1.85%, Tata Motors up by 1.70%, Bajaj-Auto up by 1.49% and Dr. Reddys Lab was up by 1.37%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.70%, GAIL down by 0.85%, SSLT down by 0.55%, Hindalco down by 0.47% and HDFC Bank India was down by 0.20% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a move aimed at boosting domestic industry, which imports up to 70% of its military hardware, the government on Tuesday notified the increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) limit to 49% in the defence sector through approval route. However, FDI ceiling in the defense sector has been hiked from the present 26% on the condition that the company seeking permission for hiking its FDI to 49% should be an Indian company, owned and controlled by resident Indian citizens, according to the press note of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

However, for proposals involving foreign direct investment above 49%, the companies will have to seek the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Security on 'case to case basis', wherever it is likely to result in access to modern and state of the art technology in the country.

Also, the government clarified that FDI limit of 49% was composite and included all kinds of foreign investments - FDI, FIIs, FPIs, NRIs, foreign venture foreign venture capital investors (FVCIs) and qualified foreign investors (QFIs). Further, it highlighted that portfolio investments by FPIs/FIIs/NRIs/QFIs and investments by FVCIs together would not exceed 24 per cent of the total equity of the investee/joint venture company. 'Portfolio' investments will be under automatic route.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7,938.45 up by 33.70 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 7,946.85 and 7,931.45. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech up by 2.43%, ONGC up by 2.14%, ICICI Bank up by 1.99%, Jindal Steel & Power up by 1.94% and Tata Motors was up by 1.75%. On the flip side, Kotak Bank down by 1.71%, NTPC down by 1.67%, Ambuja Cement down by 1.24%, NMDC down by 0.82% and UltraTech Cement was down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the green; KOSPI Index rose by 0.21%, Shanghai Composite strengthens by 0.37%, Jakarta Composite jumped by 0.33%, Taiwan Weighted gained by 0.85%, Nikkei 225 up by 0.02%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI surged by 0.82% and Straits Times was up 0.54%. On the flip side, Hang Seng was down 0.01%.