Benchmarks continue firm trade in late morning session

After getting a gap-up start, benchmark equity indices continued to trade in fine fettle in late morning deals on emergence of buying by both funds and retail investors. Besides, firm global cues coupled with the appreciation in rupee value against the dollar added to the optimistic sentiments. Some support also came in from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the ongoing global slow growth is an opportunity for the country as investors are eyeing this market. The union minister said investments would trigger economic activity which will in turn boost growth and lead to job creation. However, gains remained capped on report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 1,073.18 crore on January 07, 2015.

On global front, Asian stocks were trading higher buoyed by the upbeat US jobs data and the release of the minutes of US Federal Reserve's meetings which suggested that the proposed hike in key interest rates may not happen in near future. Furthermore, U.S. stocks too jumped overnight, with the S&P 500 rebounding from a five-session dive, as U.S. crude stopped a four-day skid and Germany left the door open to discussing options with Greece's next government on its debt. Back home, Indian rupee strengthened by 9 paise to 63.08 against the dollar in early trade on increased selling of the US currency amid a higher opening in domestic equity market.

Back on street, all BSE sectoral indices were trading in the positive territory with Auto, Power, FMCG, Realty and Bankex indices trading higher by over 1%. Among other, Hotel shares firmed up after official data showed higher foreign exchange earnings in December 2014 on the back of higher tourist arrivals. In scrip specific development, shares of Coal India surged after Coal India workers called off their strike. Moreover, NMDC rose on inking pact with KIOCL for operation and maintenance of Donimalai plant.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2248 stocks traded, 1773 stocks advanced, while 427 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27151.46, up by 242.64 points or 0.90% after trading in a range of 27101.94 and 27249.98. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.56%, while Small cap index up by 1.68%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.35%, Power up by 1.35%, FMCG up by 1.28%, Realty up by 1.21% and Bankex up by 1.20%, while there were no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 2.60%, HDFC Bank up by 1.87%, Coal India up by 1.85%, Tata Power up by 1.85% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.71%. On the flip side, Sesa Sterlite down by 1.24%, Reliance Industries down by 1.19%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.27% and ONGC down by 0.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to boost the domestic economic growth, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has asserted that India needs to create an environment for cyclic investments and ease norms of doing business. Arun Jaitley added that investments would trigger economic activity which will in turn will boost growth and lead to job creation. The Minister also called for easing out norms and rules governing investment to boost the industrial landscape and lead the growth.

Observing that ongoing global slow growth as an opportunity for India, Finance Minister stressed that after the US, global investors are looking at India to invest. By adding further, Finance Minister said that the US economy is the strongest one in the world while all other countries like Japan, China, Brazil and South Africa are facing challenges. Therefore, there is a need to strengthen the economy for people from all over the world to come and invest in the country.

After registering an average growth rate of 8% during FY08-FY12, Indian economic growth had slowed down to below 5% over the last two financial years. The factors like high interest rate and stubborn inflation, low investments and slow execution of infrastructure projects have impacted country’s economy growth.  However, the economy has shown signs of nascent recovery and expanded at 5.5% during first half of this fiscal as compared to 4.9% in the same period of previous fiscal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8182.30, up by 80.20 points or 0.99% after trading in a range of 8167.30 and 8209.85. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 3.72%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.56%, Tata Motors up by 2.46%, Asian Paints up by 2.36% and Tata Power up by 1.98%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 1.21%, Sesa Sterlite down by 1.20%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.38%, Zee Entertainment down by 0.37% and HCL Tech. down by 0.12% were the top losers.

Asian equity indices were trading mostly in the green; Jakarta Composite rose 0.25%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.80%, KOSPI Index surged 1.03%, Straits Times gained 0.98%, Hang Seng added 0.52%, Taiwan Weighted soared 1.71% and Nikkei 225 was up by 1.99%. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 1.70%.