Benchmarks continue to trade in green in late morning session

Indian bourses continued to trade in green in late morning session on sustained buying activities by both funds and retail investors. Besides, a firming trend at other Asian bourses too supported the rising trend. Sentiment on the street improved after trade deficit in Asia's third largest economy narrowed to $13.35 billion in October from $14.25 billion in September. The street took support as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley batting for a rate cut exuded optimism. He said that inflation has moderated and global fuel price has eased and hoped that Reserve Bank of India would prune interest rates as it will give a ‘good fillip’ to the Indian economy. Some support also came in from reports that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 656.37crore on November 17, 2014. However, gains remained capped as gold imports surged to $4.18 billion from 3.75 billion in October 2014. On a year-on-year basis, gold imports jumped to $ 4.17 billion from$ 1.09 billion mainly because of the festivals like Diwali and Dhanteras, which are considered as most auspicious occasions in India to buy the yellow metal.

On the sectoral front, stocks from Metal, Infrastructure and Power counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from information technology (IT), Consumer Durables and FMCG counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, shares of Praj Industries have surged after the company bagged an order worth Rs 235 crore for oil & gas process skids from Brazilian oil &gas corporation Petrobras. Furthermore, Moser Baer rose after winning contracts in rooftop solar panel installation scheme in states of Kerela, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.

On global front, Japanese shares led a tentative recovery in Asian shares, drawing support from two US blockbuster acquisitions and expectation of more European monetary stimulus. Back home, Indian rupee weakened to its lowest level in a little over a month in early trade as private oil firms bought dollars while a broadly stronger dollar also hurt sentiment for the local currency.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2452 stocks traded, 1534 stocks advanced, while 835 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28259.08 up by 81.20 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 28282.85 and 28177.30. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.68%, while Small cap index gained 1.10%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.52%, INFRA up by 1.50%, Power up by 1.17%, Capital Goods up by 1.16% and PSU up by 0.72%, while IT down by 0.43%, Consumer Durables down by 0.14%, FMCG down by 0.01% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sesa Sterlite up by 3.27%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.69%, GAIL India up by 1.93%, Tata Steel up by 1.50% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.26%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 1.22%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.69%, Infosys down by 0.66%, Cipla down by 0.62% and TCS down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India's trade deficit in October surged by 26.1% to $13.36 billion, however it narrowed from $14.25 billion in the previous month, thanks to decline in oil import. On one hand, India’s imports fell to $39.45 billion from $ 43.15 billion in September, but on the other, on a year-on-year basis, it increased 3.16%.

Oil and gold are the key contributors to India's import bill. Oil imports fell to $ 12.36 billion as against $14.50 billion, on a month-on-month basis, the same also slipped by 19% lower on Year on Year (Y-o-Y) basis. Non-oil imports declined to $27.08 billion as against $ 28.65 billion, m-o-m basis.

However, in a bit of concern, gold imports surged to $4.18 billion from 4 3.75 billion in October. On a year-on-year basis, gold imports jumped to $ 4.17 billion from$ 1.09 billion mainly because of the festivals like Diwali and Dhanteras, which are considered as most auspicious occasions in India to buy the yellow metal.

In another spot of concern, exports in October hit lowest level since March 2014 as they fell to $26.09 billion from $28.90 billion last month. On a year-on-year basis, the fall has been to the tune of 5.04%.

Cumulatively, during April-October period of the current fiscal, the country's exports were up by mere 4.72% to $189.79 billion, while imports rose by 1.86 per cent to $273.55 billion, leaving behind a trade deficit at $83.75 billion as against $87.31 billion in the same period last fiscal.

The government had in the previous year clamped down on gold imports stipulating that nominated agencies could import gold on the condition that 20% of the consignment would be exported. The scheme, commonly referred to as the 80:20 scheme, was relaxed in May this year when RBI allowed star and premier export houses to import the commodity. However, with the sharp uptick in the shipments of yellow metal, reports now suggest that RBI is in talks with the Government for a decision to curb gold imports.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8450.45 up by 19.70 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 8454.50 and 8422.55. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sesa Sterlite up by 3.21%, PNB up by 2.89%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.49%, GAIL India up by 1.78% and Jindal Steel & Power up by 1.75%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 1.48%, DLF down by 1.00%, Asian Paints down by 0.95%, HCL Tech down by 0.90% and Infosys down by 0.85% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the green; Nikkei 225 soared 1.96%, KOSPI Index increased by 1.19%, Straits Times spurted by 0.44%, Jakarta Composite added 0.40% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 0.25%. On the flip side, Hang Seng dropped 1.14%, Shanghai Composite contracted 0.44% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.42%.