Benchmarks resume northward journey; trade in fine fettle in early deals

Resuming their northward journey, Indian equity benchmarks have made a positive start and are trading in fine fettle in early deals on Friday with key gauges recapturing their crucial 8,100 (Nifty) and 27,100 (Sensex) levels. Sentiments remained up-beat on report that heavy showers across north and northwest India, narrowed the overall monsoon deficit in the country to 14% and has accelerated crop growth. Some support also came on report that the government may allow EPFO to invest in the stock markets, potentially making this the biggest source of domestic institutional investment after LIC.

On the global front, the US markets extended their consolidation mood and ended lower in last session. The early buying interest faded and stocks turned lower over the course of the trading day on uncertainty about Friday's monthly jobs report. The Asian markets were trading mostly in the red at this point of time led by decline in material companies.

Back home, rally in infrastructure stocks too supported the sentiments as the Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu has said that the guidelines for the Government's flagship scheme ‘100 smart cities’ are in advanced stage of finalization. On the sectoral front, software, consumer durables and capital goods witnessed the maximum gains in trade, while fast moving consumer goods remained the lone loser on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were trading with traction, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1411 shares on the gaining side against 538 shares on the losing side while 68 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 27127.26; around 42 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 27085.93, and has touched a high and a low of 27178.80 and 27116.31 respectively. The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27130.64, up by 44.71 points or 0.17%. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The overall market breadth remained in the favour of advances with 69.96% stocks advancing against 26.67% declines. The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.76%, while Small cap index up by 1.13%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.97%, Consumer Durables up by 0.84%, Capital Goods up by 0.72%, TECK up by 0.69% and PSU up by 0.53%, while FMCG down by 0.07% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 1.18%, ONGC up by 1.06%, Infosys up by 1.05%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.03% and TCS up by 1.03%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 1.49%, Coal India down by 0.99%, Sun Pharma Industries down by 0.98%, BHEL down by 0.84% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has cleared 22 FDI proposals worth Rs 3,249 crore, including investment proposals of KSK Energy Ventures, Telenor Mobile, InterGlobe Aviation among 19 others. These proposals have been cleared following recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

KSK Energy Ventures’ proposal, with 74.94% foreign equity and entailing investment of Rs 1,050 crore, has been given permission to issue and allot warrants to foreign promoters. Additionally, Norway-based Telenor, through Telenor South Asia Investment Pte (Singapore), has got government's nod to increase its shareholding in Telewings Communication (Uninor) to 100% from the existing 74%. The proposal is worth Rs 78 crore.

Besides, FIPB has also cleared the proposal of IndiGo’s holding company, InterGlobe Aviation, which would clear the way for fresh Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in air carrier IndiGo and make roads for the company to hit the primary market. In a cashless transaction, InterGlobe Aviation will issue 147,000 equity shares having face value of Rs 1,000 to NRI owners of Caelum in proportion to the voting units held by them.

Further, government also has given green signal to Credit Investment trust’ proposal seeking foreign investment of up to Rs 500 crore by Religare India Credit Assets Fund, Netherlands in the Class A units of Religare Credit Opportunities Fund Scheme I, an AIF Category II Fund. Meanwhile, other proposals which have been cleared include that of Gurgaon-based Baxter (India) (pharma firm), ARKRAY Healthcare (pharma), Verdant Telemetry & Antenna Systems (defence), Genpact India (IT) and Innisfree Cosmetics India (trading).

The CNX Nifty opened at 8,099.90; around 4 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 8,095.95, and has touched a high and a low of 8,122.70 and 8,099.90 respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8,113.50, up by 17.55 points or 0.22%. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NMDC up by 2.32%, IDFC up by 1.47%, Ambuja Cement up by 1.30%, Grasim Industries up by 1.28% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.25%. On the flip side, United Spirits down by 2.49%, HDFC down by 1.59%, Coal India down by 1.48%, BPCL down by 1.36% and BHEL down by 1.34% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the red; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased by 0.43 points or 0.02% to 1,868.78, Taiwan Weighted declined by 48.08 points or 0.57% to 9,374.77, Straits Times shed 20.30 points or 0.61% to 3,326.04, KOSPI Index contracted by 7.90 points or 0.38% to 2,048.36 and Hang Seng was down by 66.65 points or 0.26% to 25,231.27.

On the flip side Nikkei 225 surged by 11.46 points or 0.07% to 15,687.64, Jakarta Composite gained by 11.43 points or 0.22% to 5,216.75 and Shanghai Composite was up by 7.00 points or 0.30% to 2,313.86.