Benchmarks continue to trade sanguine; Nifty tops 8,400 mark

Benchmark equity indices, gaining strength brick by brick, continue to trade in fine contour, thanks to sharp gains in rate sensitive pockets like banks and auto on hopes of cooling retail inflation data, which is due later during the day that would help pave the way for lower interest rates. CPI inflation is expected to ease to 5.8 per cent in the month of October as compared to 6.3 per cent reported in the month of August. Moreover, Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data is likely to expand marginally to 0.8 per cent in September too aided the sentiments. Meanwhile, the empowered committee of state finance ministers on goods & services tax (GST) at its meeting held yesterday, 11 November 2014, reportedly agreed on the 'place of supply' rules that form the backbone of proposed GST.

On the global front, Asian equity benchmarks were trading mostly in the green at this point of time, extending their gains for the fourth day as Japanese shares climbed after the yen depreciated to a seven-year low amid speculation the nation will delay raising its sales tax again. Japanese stocks scaled seven-year highs on Wednesday on growing expectations Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will postpone a planned sales tax hike to avoid damaging a fragile recovery, and call a snap election to bolster his political standing.

Back home, domestic sentiment remained upbeat on continued buying by foreign funds and retail investors amid a series of economic reforms undertaken by the Narendra Modi-led government and strong earnings by blue-chip companies. On the sectoral front, auto, banking and fast moving consumer goods witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while metal and power remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were going neck-to-neck with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1555 shares on the gaining side against 1,049 shares on the losing side while 101 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28109.49, up by 199.43 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 27958.64 and 28126.48. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.94%, while Small cap index up by 0.67%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.60%, Bankex up by 1.25%, FMCG up by 0.74%, Infrastructure up by 0.69% and Realty up by 0.46%, while Metal down by 0.12% and Power down by 0.08% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 2.55%, Tata Motors up by 2.31%, BHEL up by 1.98%, Axis Bank up by 1.74% and ICICI Bank up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 0.63%, Wipro down by 0.54%, NTPC down by 0.51%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.45% and Tata Power down by 0.38% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the civil aviation ministry has started the process of appointing an Ombudsman to look into the complaints of consumers and give binding orders for Air India. The Union civil aviation minister has asked for an Ombudsman to look into the complaints of people against wings under the ministry like Air India, Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Airports Authority of India and Pawan Hans.

There is a practice of appointment of ombudsman in some of the ministries and departments in the government of India and crucial consumer-facing sectors such as banking and electricity have ombudsmen, but the proposal for an aviation ombudsman has remained on paper for the past four years. The aviation ministry despite several meetings of private airline CEOs and airports in the past four years has been unable to frame an ombudsman.

The aviation Ombudsman for Air India will be on the same lines followed by the Electricity, Banking, Income Tax and Insurance sectors. The ministry of aviation could later extend the Ombudsman for private airlines and airports who have opposed the idea so far. The steps were taken following a recent collision between a SpiceJet Boeing that was rolling for take-off with 140 passengers on board and hit a buffalo on the runaway of Surat airport in Gujarat.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8413.20, up by 50.55 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 8377.95 and 8415.05. There were 31 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 2.55%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.45%, BHEL up by 2.02%, Axis Bank up by 1.89% and Ambuja Cement up by 1.82%. On the flip side, Jindal Steel & Power down by 2.19%, Power Grid down by 2.17%, NMDC down by 1.27%, Zee Entertainment down by 0.88% and Tata Steel down by 0.85% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the green; KOSPI Index rose 4.27 points or 0.22% to 1,967.27, Shanghai Composite increased 7.43 points or 0.3% to 2,477.11, Jakarta Composite strengthened 27.01 points or 0.54% to 5,059.29, Hang Seng gained 55.86 points or 0.23% to 23,864.14 and Nikkei 225 was up by 69.06 points or 0.4% to 17,193.17. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted declined 115.19 points or 1.28% to 8,918.95, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 4.44 points or 0.24% to 1,820.67 and Straits Times was down by 3.2 points or 0.1% to 3,288.95.