Benchmarks trade jubilantly in early deals on strong global cues

Snapping three days losing streak, Indian equity benchmarks have made a gap-up opening and are trading jubilantly in early deals on Thursday with frontline gauges surpassing their crucial 26,500 (Sensex) and 7,900 (Nifty) bastions on the back of strong global cues. The US markets rallied and ended considerably higher in last session, reacting positively to the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting, where some Fed officials expressed concerns about global economic weakness and the impact of a stronger US dollar. The Asian markets were trading mostly in the green at this point of time as Federal Reserve concerns over a global economic slowdown spurred bets that US interest rates will remain low.

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. Some support also came in after Paris-based think tank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said that the Indian economy is projected to see a pickup in growth momentum while most of the other major economies are anticipated to see stable prospects. The readings for the month of August are based on Composite Leading Indicators (CLIs), which are designed to anticipate turning points in economic activity relative to trend.

On the sectoral front, capital goods, realty and metal witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were trading in-line with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1562 shares on the gaining side against 385 shares on the losing side while 53 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 26394.37; around 148 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 26246.79, and has touched a high and a low of 26559.60 and 26394.21 respectively. The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26532.38, up by 285.59 points or 1.09%. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The overall market breadth remained in the favour of advances with 78.10% stocks advancing against 19.25% declines. The broader indices were trading in the green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.30%, while Small cap index up by 1.44%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.74%, Realty up by 1.62%, Metal up by 1.56%, Healthcare up by 1.49% and Infrastructure up by 1.35%, while there were no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 4.91%, BHEL up by 3.57%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.07%, Cipla up by 2.04% and SBI up by 1.91%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 0.45% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.15% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, India’s engineering exports grew by 24 percent to $28.9 billion in the April-August FY15 mainly driven by increased shipments to three neighboring countries include Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.

In South Asia region, India’s exports grew by 60 percent for the period under review with Nepal registering an annualised growth of 49 percent at $596 million and Bangladesh 25 percent at $616 million. Exports to Sri Lanka grew by 96.80 percent to $1.5 billion in the first five months of FY15.

The chairman of Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) Anupam Shah has asserted that South Asian countries, with the exception of Pakistan, are emerging as important markets for Indian exports, in terms of volume as well as scale in valuation despite being small economies. By adding further Anupam Shah said that if the physical infrastructure at the borders was improved, commercial engagements with the neighbours could increase not only in engineering products but also in other areas.

Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are included in the top 25 destinations for India’s engineering exports, with Sri Lanka standing at No. 3 position after the US and the UAE. The top 25 destinations account for 74 per cent of the total engineering exports, which were $62 billion in 2013-14 and are expected to reach $70 billion in the current fiscal.

The CNX Nifty opened at 7,886.50; around 44 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 7,842.70, and has touched a high and a low of 7,935.35 and 7,886.50 respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7927.65, up by 84.95 points or 1.08%. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 4.84% and BHEL up by 3.44% and Bank Of Baroda up by 2.60% and PNB up by 2.42% and Ambuja Cement up by 2.16%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 0.28%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.18% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.16% were the few losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the green; Hang Seng increased by 214.51 points or 0.92% to 23,477.84, Straits Times gained 21.45 points or 0.66% to 3,248.16, Jakarta Composite surged 50.03 points or 1.01% to 5,008.54, and Taiwan Weighted was up by 20.43 points or 0.23% to 8,975.61.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 tumbled by 60.29 points or 0.39% to 15,535.69 and Shanghai Composite was down by 13.49 points or 0.57% to 2,369.30.

The South Korean market remained shut for the trade today for the Hangul Proclamation Holiday.