Markets continue to trade firm; Oil & Gas, FMCG stocks gain

Indian equity benchmarks continued their firm trade in the noon session, though major indices were following a tight range but there was no sense of any profit booking since morning. Firm global cues, sustained buying activities by both funds and retail investors coupled with the appreciation in rupee value against the dollar provided strength to domestic major indices and almost all sectoral indices were trading in green. Investors also anticipated improvement in key macroeconomic indicators - inflation, forex reserves and industrial production to be announced this week. Oil and gas stocks were on buying radar as crude oil prices dropped on Friday. Oil and gas was the top gaining index on BSE up by around 1.31% followed by FMCG and Infra indices trading up by 1%. Buying was broad based with both mid cap and small cap indices were trading up by over 0.70%. However, there was mild weakness in consumer durables stocks.

Shares of Bharti Airtel have surged nearly 2% to Rs 407.30 as company planned to sell its telecom towers in Nigeria for more than $1 billion within the next three weeks.  Shares of Cipla were trading nearly 1% higher after the company announced that Medispray Laboratories, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company at its board meeting held on 05 September 2014 approved the acquisition of two manufacturing undertakings.

On global front, Asian markets were trading mixed with Nikkei 225 up by 0.18% and Hang Seng down 0.20%. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 8,100 and 27,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,686 stocks traded, 1,807 stocks advanced, while 789 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27219.33, up by 192.63 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 27144.56 and 27248.79. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.71%, while Small cap index up by 1.45%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.31%, FMCG up by 1.07%, INFRA up by 1.01%, PSU up by 0.92% and Capital Goods up by 0.91%. On the other hand, Consumer Durables down by 0.45% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 2.26%, Hindalco up by 2.24%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.58%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.45% and Sun Pharma Inds  up by 1.30%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.85%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.60%, Tata Power down by 0.28% and Tata Motors down by 0.10% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, according to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), India needs $4.7 trillion investment over next five years in order to achieve an average gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7% per annum. The CII study suggested that $4.7 trillion is nearly double the sum of $2.9 trillion that was invested in the previous such period and thus monetary, fiscal, trade and other relevant policies should be realigned to help the economy mobilize the required investments.   

The CII projected industrial sector’s growth at 6.3% over the next 5 years up from 5.2% in the previous corresponding period, for which a cumulative investment of Rs 146 lakh crore is required. Industry body noted that Rs 98 lakh crore of the total required investments is to be invested in manufacturing alone as the sector needs to accelerate its growth and create mass employment to absorb the rapidly growing population of job seekers. If manufacturing sector is able to meet the desired investment target, it should automatically lead to greater attractiveness of services sector. The CII estimates the services sector to grow at an average of nearly 8% per annum, same growth as in the previous five-year period and it requires an investment of Rs 98 lakh crore. There is also a vast unexploited potential in areas such as health, education, trade, financial services and tourism and it has become imperative to adopt appropriate policy interventions to provide impetus to these sectors.

Referring to agriculture sector, the CII projected an average growth of 4% per annum for agriculture sector over the next 5 years, requiring a total investment of Rs 36 lakh crore.  The industry body expects infrastructure investments to go up to Rs 64.3 lakh crore ($1,071 billion) during 2014-15 to 2018-19 period from around Rs 24 lakh crore in XI plan period in line with the Planning Commission’s projection of around $1 trillion during the 12th Plan period. Around 40 per cent of the total investment in infrastructure should come from private sector. CII further noted that private sector continued to face multifarious challenges in infrastructure making the task of raising nearly half of investment from private sector quite difficult.
 
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8143.90, up by 57.05 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 8126.15 and 8149.25. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 4.88%, Hindalco up by 2.27%,  Grasim Industries up by 2.25%, Ambuja Cement up by 2.23% and ONGC up by 2.16%. On the flip side, NMDC down by 0.97%, United Spirits down by 0.84%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.73%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.72% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Nikkei 225 up by 28.35 points or 0.18% to 15,697.03, Jakarta Composite up by 31.83 points or 0.61% to 5,249.16. While, Hang Seng down 51.74 points or 0.2% to 25,188.41, Taiwan Weighted down 20.95 points or 0.22% to 9,407.94 and Straits Times down 3.35 points or 0.1% to 3,338.38