Benchmarks trade slightly in green amid extremely range bound session

Indian equity markets continued their range bound trade marginally in green in the afternoon session supported by gains in realty, metal and infra stocks. Sustained foreign capital inflows amid firm global cues influenced the trading sentiments and most of major sectoral indices on BSE were trading in green with realty as top gaining index trading up by around 1.42%. However, gains remained capped as sharp selling witnessed in IT and teck stocks weighed on the domestic benchmarks. Shares of IT majors have lost between 0.5-2% ahead of the key US jobs report which is scheduled to be released later during the day. Meanwhile, broader indices were outperforming major indices with high margin as both the mid cap and small cap indices were trading down by over 0.55%. Sector wise, buying continued in realty stocks as the government relaxed FDI policy for the sector by easing exit norms and reducing built-up area and capital needs. Railway shares were trading higher amid report that the government is further deciding to attract investments through foreign direct investment (FDI) and public-private partnership (PPP) routes. Among blue chip stocks, Sesa Sterlite was top gainer up by around 2.76% while, TCS was top loser on BSE trading down by around 1.56%.

Shares of Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers (MCF) has rallied around 9% to Rs 93.65 after the company said Zuari Fertilisers made an open offer to acquire a further 30.7 million shares at Rs 91.92 per share. Shares of ITC has touched a record high of Rs 390, extending its previous day’s 5.5% rally after reports suggests that the government was reconsidering a proposal to ban sale of loose cigarettes.

On global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in green with Nikkei 225 up by 0.12% and Shanghai Composite up by 1.61%. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 8,500 and 28,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,535 stocks traded, 1,450 stocks advanced, while 975 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28590.78, up by 27.96 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 28560.21 and 28651.75. 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 0.56%, while Small cap index up by 1.02%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.42%, Metal up by 0.99%, INFRA up by 0.84%, FMCG up by 0.79% and Capital Goods up by 0.69%. While, IT down by 1.15% and TECK down by 0.73% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sesa Sterlite up by 2.76%, ITC up by 1.49%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.19%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.08% and Tata Steel up by 1.02%. On the other hand, TCS down by 1.56%, Wipro down by 1.43%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.16%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.96% and Infosys down by 0.83% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India's domestic air traffic grew by 16.3% y-o-y in the month of October, higher than 10% growth in China, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) stated. The IATA highlighted that the significant growth in reported month reflected market stimulation by local carriers, though this was a considerable slowdown compared to September growth of 26.4%. From the beginning of the year, domestic carriers have been offering low fares through a series of discounted ticket schemes to stimulate demand. On global front, IATA stated that global domestic travel demand rose by 5.8% in October compared to the same month last year.

Domestic airlines flew 59.25 lakh passengers in October this year as compared to 50.08 lakh passengers during the same period in 2013. During January-October 2014, the number of passengers carried by domestic airlines was 550.68 lakh as against 507.03 lakh in the year-ago period. Domestic air traffic is expected to enhance in coming months as aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for domestic carriers has become 11.22% cheaper since October and is expected to see more price cuts in the next three months. Domestic carriers are likely to cut fare prices as ATF accounts for over 50% of domestic carriers' operating costs.

The civil aviation industry in India has ushered in a new era of expansion driven by factors such as low-cost carriers (LCC), modern airports, foreign direct investments (FDI) in domestic airlines, cutting edge information technology (IT) interventions and a growing emphasis on regional connectivity. Indian civil aviation industry is amongst the top 10 in the world with a size of around $16 billion. India has a vision of becoming the third largest aviation market by 2020.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8571.50, up by 7.10 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 8560.30 and 8588.35. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sesa Sterlite up by 2.91%, Ambuja Cement up by 2.74%, DLF up by 2.20%, ACC up by 1.83% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.69%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 1.71%, TCS down by 1.66%, HCL Tech down by 1.47%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.38% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.37% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green, KOSPI Index up by 0.01 points or 0% to 1,986.62, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI up by 3.43 points or 0.2% to 1,749.12, Jakarta Composite up by 9.56 points or 0.18% to 5,186.72 ,Straits Times up by15.67 points or 0.47% to 3,320.49, Nikkei 225 up by 21.81 points or 0.12% to 17,909.02, Shanghai Composite up by 46.73 points or 1.61% to 2,946.19 and Hang Seng up by 283.84 points or 1.19% to 24,116.40. While, Taiwan Weighted down 18.54 points or 0.2% to 9,206.57.