Benchmarks extend gains; Realty, IT lead

Indian equity markets extend gains to continue their firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. Traders were seen piling positions in Realty, IT and TECK sector stocks.  In scrip specific development, hectic buying activity was witnessed in shares of realty companies extending their yesterday’s gain on government's decision to relax rules for FDI in the construction sector by reducing minimum built-up area as well as capital requirement and easing the exit norms. Maruti Suzuki was trading in green on reporting the second quarter net profit which rose by 28.8% to Rs 863 crore led by other income and higher sales. Profit in the year-ago period was Rs 670.2 crore. The markets may remain volatile today as traders may rollover 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 today on Thursday i.e. October 30, 2014.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading on a mixed note while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,150 and 27,300 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1488:1265 while 113 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27343.39, up by 245.22 points or 0.90% after trading in a range of 27088.65 and 27358.85. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.51%, while Small cap index up by 0.46%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.46%, IT up by 2.24%, TECK up by 1.83%, Consumer Durables up by 1.42%, Oil & Gas up by 1.41%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.54%, Reliance Industries up by 2.42%, Infosys up by 2.15%, TCS up by 2.09% and Hindalco up by 1.82%. On the flip side, Sesa Sterlite down by 0.65%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.54%, ICICI Bank down by 0.47%, SBI down by 0.37% and Tata Power down by 0.06% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the World Bank has ranked India at 7th for minority investor protection ahead of developed countries like the US, Japan, France and Germany. India has also been ranked best among the BRICS nations, out of which South Africa is placed at 17th, Brazil (35), Russia (100) and China (132). Major countries ranked below India include the US at 25th place, France (17), Korea and Italy (21), Japan (35), Germany (51), Australia (71) and Switzerland (78).

India’s ranking in terms of investor protection has showed a significant improvement from 21st position last year and World Bank attributed this improvement to various reforms launched in India over the past year. New company act as well as amendment in SEBI’s norms has brought a lot of norms to all listed companies in the country and to various market entities.

The World Bank’s report highlighted that India strengthened minority investor protections by requiring greater disclosure of conflicts of interest by board members, introducing additional safeguards for shareholders of privately held companies and increasing the remedies available in case of prejudicial related-party transactions.

Protection of minority investors is one of the ten sub- rankings based on which the World Bank has prepared the ease of doing business report. The World Bank has placed India at 142 rank among 189 countries in its 'Ease of Doing Business' report, a drop by two places from the last year's ranking.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8163.25, up by 72.80 points or 0.90% after trading in a range of 8085.20 and 8167.20. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech up by 4.66% and DLF up by 4.57% and Tech Mahindra up by 3.80% and Maruti Suzuki up by 2.92% and Reliance Industries up by 2.35%. On the flip side, Cairn India down by 1.52%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.79%, ICICI Bank down by 0.57%, Sesa Sterlite down by 0.55% and SBI down by 0.41% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mixed; Straits Times increased 1.32 points or 0.04% to 3,225.35, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.81 points or 0.15% to 1,842.36, Shanghai Composite increased 18.05 points or 0.76% to 2,391.08 and Nikkei 225 increased 104.29 points or 0.67% to 15,658.20.

On the other hand, Hang Seng decreased 117.83 points or 0.49% to 23,702.04, Jakarta Composite decreased 25.94 points or 0.51% to 5,048.11, Taiwan Weighted decreased 15.61 points or 0.18% to 8,888.07 and KOSPI Index decreased 2.24 points or 0.11% to 1,958.93.

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 0.11 points or 0% to 6,453.98, France’s CAC increased 30.61 points or 0.74% to 4,141.25 and Germany’s DAX increased 41.92 points or 0.46% to 9,124.73.