Markets continue to trade in green

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in the afternoon session amid firm global cues and buying witnessed in front line blue chip stocks. Sustained capital inflows on expectations of further economic reforms by the government, expectation of possible rate cut and a firming trend at other Asian markets as China’s cut interest rates for the first time in more than two years boosted sentiments. Most of the major sectoral indices were trading in green with metal as the top gaining index up by around 2.10%. Metal stocks were on buying radar following the unexpected rate cut by China. Buying was broad based with both mid and small cap indices were trading up by over 0.30%. However, the stock of oil and gas and FMCG sectors were trading in negative territory. Stock specific movement, shares of Infosys was trading higher by nearly 2% at Rs 4,213 after the company said it has fixed record date as December 3, 2014 for the purpose of allotment of bonus shares/stock dividend. Shares of Adani Power were trading higher by over 2% after the Adani Power signed memorandum of understanding to acquire Avantha group's Korba West Power.

On global front, Asian markets were trading in green with Shanghai Composite up by 1.88% and Nikkei 225 up by 0.33%. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 8,500 and 28,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,668 stocks traded, 1,296 stocks advanced, while 1,267 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28443.36, up by 108.73 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 28394.48 and 28514.98. There were 18 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.38%, while Small cap index up by 0.33%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.10%, Realty up by 1.61%, IT up by 1.29%, TECK up by 1.12% and Bankex up by 0.84%. On the other hand, FMCG down by 0.51% and Oil & Gas down by 0.41% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 4.37%, Tata Steel up by 2.42%, Infosys up by 2.39%, BHEL up by 2.08% and ICICI Bank up by 1.94%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.03%, Reliance Industries down by 0.85%, HDFC down by 0.85%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.73% and ITC down by 0.65% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, foreign direct investment (FDI) in India declined by 16% to $2.45 billion in the month of September 2014 as compared to $2.91 billion in the same month of previous year. However, FDI during the April-September FY15 grew by 15% y-o-y to $14.47 billion from $12.59 billion recorded in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. Healthy FDI inflows during May at $3.60 billion and July at $3.50 billion have helped in registering a positive growth during the first half of current fiscal.

The sectors that received highest inflows during the first six months of current fiscal include telecommunications ($2.46 billion), services ($1.22 billion) pharmaceuticals ($1.09 billion) and automobile ($1.03 billion). Country wise, maximum FDI during the reported period was received form Mauritius with $4.19 billion followed by Singapore ($2.41 billion), Netherlands ($1.97 billion), the US ($1.19 million), Japan ($937 million) and UK ($842 million).

During FY14, FDI increased by 8% to $24.29 from $22.42 billion recorded in the FY13. FDI is considered crucial for India, which requires 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 8509.50, up by 32.15 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 8490.80 and 8529.00. There were 31 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Jindal Steel & Power up by 4.83%, Hindalco up by 4.21%, DLF up by 3.85%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.88% and Tata Steel up by 2.45%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corp down by 2.46%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.19%, HDFC down by 1.03%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.97% and Reliance Industries down by 0.92% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green, KOSPI Index up by 13.7 points or 0.7% to 1,978.54, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI up by 18.99 points or 1.05% to 1,828.12, Jakarta Composite up by 28.98 points or 0.57% to 5,141.03, Taiwan Weighted up by 30.8 points or 0.34% to 9,122.33, Shanghai Composite up by 46.73 points or 1.88% to 2,533.52, Nikkei 225 up by 56.65 points or 0.33% to 17,357.51 and Hang Seng up by 441.73 points or 1.88% to 23,878.85. While, Straits Times down 1.32 points or 0.04% to 3,344.00.