Benchmarks continue firm trade; Nifty holds 8,000 mark

Indian equity markets continued their firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiment were on optimistic mood from early trades after World Bank stated that Indian economy has come back on growth track and is likely to grow by 5.6% in FY15 followed by further acceleration to 6.4% and 7.0% in FY16 and FY17. Traders were seen piling positions in Bankex, Consumer Durables and PSU while selling was witnessed in Infra, Oil & Gas and Metal sector stocks. In scrip specific development, State Bank of Mysore was trading in green after SBI’s subsidiary reported a 3.4 times jump (year-on-year) in net profit in July-September quarter. The markets may remain volatile this week as traders may roll over positions in the Futures & Options (F&O) segment from the near month i.e. October 2014 series to next month i.e. November 2014 series. The near month October 2014 derivatives contract will expire on Thursday i.e. October 30, 2014.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mixed while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,000 and 26,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1381:1332 while 115 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26806.36, up by 53.46 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 26764.15 and 26865.11. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.07%, while Small cap index up by 0.43%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 0.52%, Consumer Durables up by 0.41%, PSU up by 0.26%, Capital Goods up by 0.25%, IT up by 0.10% while, Infra down by 0.31%, Oil & Gas down by 0.30%, Metal down by 0.22%, Power down by 0.16%, FMCG down by 0.14% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 1.96%, SBI up by 1.75%, Sun Pharma up by 1.72%, ICICI Bank up by 1.63% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.53%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.32%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.15%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.58%, BHEL down by 1.43% and Bajaj Auto down by 1.32% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, private equity investments during July-September quarter of current fiscal grew by 47 percent to $3.1 billion over the corresponding period last year. According to the report prepared by advisory firm Grant Thornton, PE investments in India amounted to $3.12 billion through 157 deals in the reported quarter, while in the corresponding period last year there were 115 such transactions worth $2.12 billion.

The report highlighted that private equity witnessed a 47 percent increase in values led by the billion dollar investment in Flipkart and 37 percent increase in volumes driven by the IT&ITeS sector with over 40 percent share in total deal volume. The Q2 FY15 also witnessed several big ticket deals as 15 investments were over $50 million each, including two over $100 million and one billion dollar investment.

The report further highlighted that as business sentiments renewed in the country, this momentum of deal activity will continue to increase and the sectors such as infrastructure, energy, consumer and financial services are likely to witness high PE deal activities. So far in 2014, PE investments recorded at $8.4 billion as against $7.8 billion in 2013, with 38 percent higher volumes in 2014 as compared to 2013, led by the technology sector.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8010.35, up by 18.65 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 7995.05 and 8020.80. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 2.16%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.03%, BPCL up by 2.02%, GAIL India up by 1.88% and Sun Pharma up by 1.81%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.59%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.14%, BHEL down by 1.66%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.51% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.46% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading on a mixed note; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.32 points or 0.07% to 1,824.47, Shanghai Composite increased 47.43 points or 2.07% to 2,337.87, Taiwan Weighted increased 145.77 points or 1.69% to 8,773.55 and Hang Seng increased 377.13 points or 1.63% to 23,520.36.

On the other hand, Nikkei 225 decreased 58.81 points or 0.38% to 15,329.91, Jakarta Composite decreased 24.42 points or 0.49% to 4,999.88, Straits Times decreased 15.56 points or 0.48% to 3,210.55 and KOSPI Index decreased 6.29 points or 0.33% to 1,925.68.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 24.55 points or 0.6% to 4,121.29, Germany’s DAX increased 122.83 points or 1.38% to 9,025.44 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 41.66 points or 0.65% to 6,405.12.