Benchmarks continue to trade firm in afternoon session

Indian benchmarks continued their firm trade in the noon session, though the major indices are following a tight range but there is no sense of any profit booking since morning. The good global cues coupled with positive economic announcements have enthused the markets to extend their gains. Almost all the sectoral indices on the BSE were trading in green, while a mild weakness in the defensive IT sector was visible. Sentiments got a boost as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)  recorded  stellar performance in the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections, giving Narendra Modi government a tremendous morale boost to pursue economic reforms. Further, the IMF’s report which stated that India is poised to become a $2 trillion economy this year and $3 trillion by 2019 also added to the optimistic sentiments. Apart from blue chips, broader indices too equally participated in the rally with both mid and small cap indices trading up by over 1.40%. Sector wise, oil and gas stocks were on buyer radar as the government announced oil and gas reforms. Buying was also witnessed in PSU and capital goods stocks.

Panasonic Appliances India has locked in upper circuit of 5% at Rs 194, also its 52-week high on BSE, after the company said its board has approved the delisting proposal received from the promoters, Panasonic Corporation. UltraTech Cement was up over 3% at Rs 2,402 after the cement major reported better-than-expected earnings during Q2FY15 because of robust sales growth.

On global front, Asian markets were trading mixed with Hang Seng up 0.56% to and Taiwan Weighted up by 1.77%. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 7,900 and 26,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,423 stocks traded, 1,637 stocks advanced, while 679 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26508.21, up by 399.68 points or 1.53% after trading in a range of 26399.84 and 26517.90. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.47%, while Small cap index up by 1.40%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 2.67%, Capital Goods up by 2.42%, Oil & Gas up by 2.40%, Auto up by 2.29% and Bankex up by 2.02%. On the other hand, IT down by 0.17% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 6.75%, Hindalco up by 4.37%, Tata Motors up by 4.25%, Axis Bank up by 3.50% and HDFC up by 3.31%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.10%, Wipro down by 0.66% and BHEL down by 0.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India declined by 10% to $1.27 billion in the month of August 2014 as compared to $1.40 billion in the same month of previous year. However, FDI during the April-August FY15 jumped by 42% y-o-y to $12.01 billion from $8.46 billion recorded in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. 

The sectors that received highest inflows during the first five months of current fiscal include telecommunications ($2.33 billion), services ($1.08 billion) pharmaceuticals ($903 million) and construction ($446 million). Country wise, maximum FDI during the reported period was received form Mauritius with $3.93 billion followed by Singapore ($1.89 billion), Netherlands ($1.56 billion), Japan ($897 million), UK ($827 million) and the US ($394 million).

During FY14, FDI increased by 8% to $24.29 from $22.42 billion recorded in the FY13. India would require 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. However, to attract maximum FDI into the country, the government has been liberalizing the foreign investment policy. Recently, the government has raised the foreign investment limit to 49% in defence manufacturing and relaxed the FDI policy in railway and construction sector.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7905.20, up by 125.50 points or 1.61% after trading in a range of 7872.20 and 7905.95. There were 45 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 6.77%, Ultratech Cement up by 4.76%, Hindalco up by 4.45%, Tata Motors up by 4.16% and BPCL up by 3.95%. On the flip side, Jindal Steel & Power down by 8.30%, Infosys down by 1.08%, Wipro down by 0.55% and BHEL down by 0.13% were the top losers.

Most of the Asian markets were trading in green, Shanghai Composite up by11.44 points or 0.49% to 2,352.62, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI up by14.24 points or 0.8% to 1,802.55, Straits Times up by20.3 points or 0.64% to 3,188.03, KOSPI Index up by29.4 points or 1.55% to 1,930.06, Jakarta Composite up by54.06 points or 1.07% to 5,083.00, Hang Seng up by129.94 points or 0.56% to 23,153.15, Taiwan Weighted up by150.26 points or 1.77% to 8,663.14 and Nikkei 225 up by553.11 points or 3.81% to 15,085.62.