Markets continued to trade firm amid buying in metal, realty stocks

Indian equity benchmarks continued their winning streak for the fourth straight day and trading near intra-day high level in the afternoon session on sustained buying by funds and retail investors amid a firming Asian trend. Most of the sectoral indices were trading in green with metal as the top gaining index up by around 1.80%. Sentiments got a boost as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stated that the government will take special steps to boost public spending on infrastructure and initiate measures to rationalise subsidies. Further, high FIIs inflow in domestic equities in the previous session and encouraging Q3 earnings by some blue-chip companies buoyed the trading sentiment. Among blue chip stocks, Tata Steel was top gainer up by around 2.79%, while GAIL was top loser trading marginally down by around 1.79%. Buying was broad based with both mid cap and small cap indices were trading up by over 0.70%.

Shanthi Gears has soared around 12% to Rs 175, extending its previous day’s 20% rally after SBI Fund Management bought nearly 2% stake in the company for Rs 19 crore through open market. Shares of non-banking finance company (NBFC) S E Investments has soared around 14% to Rs 299 after the company announced that is applying with the RBI for conversion of the company into small finance bank.

On global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in green with Shanghai Composite up by 0.47% and Hang Seng up by 0.47%. 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 2,624 stocks traded, 1,484 stocks advanced, while 1,019 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28416.89, up by 154.88 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 28324.85 and 28440.10. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.71%, while Small cap index up by 0.76%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.80%, Realty up by 0.74%, Bankex up by 0.73%, INFRA up by 0.41% and PSU up by 0.37%. On the other hand, Capital Goods down by 0.34%, Auto down by 0.20% and Consumer Durables down by 0.14% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 3.86%, Tata Steel up by 2.79%, Sesa Sterlite up by 2.43%, Hindalco up by 2.18% and Axis Bank up by 2.15%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 1.79%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.18%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.14%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.99% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.70% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, United Nations, in its latest World Economic Situation and Prospects 2015 (WESP) report, has highlighted that Indian economy is likely to grow at 5.9% this year and 6.3% in 2016. Crediting the recovery to improved market sentiment after the new government took office and announced key reforms, United Nations noted that economy is expected to grow by 5.4% in 2014, an improvement from growth of 5% recorded in 2013, but still remain significantly below the 8% pace of the pre-crisis period. Meanwhile, Indian economy expanded by 5.5% during H1FY15 as compared to 4.9% in the same period of previous fiscal.

The WESP report which produces at the beginning of each year, noted that Economic growth in South Asia is set to gradually pick up from an estimated 4.9% in 2014 to 5.4% in 2015 and 5.7% in 2016. The recovery in South Asia will be led by India, which accounts for about 70 % of regional output, other economies such as Bangladesh and the Islamic Republic of Iran are also projected to see stronger growth in the forecast period. On global economy, it added that global economy is expected to grow at 3.1% in 2015 and 3.3% in 2016, compared with an estimated growth of 2.6% in 2014.

Further, it noted that the world imports of goods and services are projected to grow by 4.7% in 2015. The tepid growth of the world economy is due to the global financial crisis of 2008 that continues to weigh on growth, while new challenges have emerged, including geopolitical conflicts such as in Ukraine and the Ebola epidemic. Among the developing countries, Asia will record the fastest growth on the back of rising domestic demand.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8597.50, up by 46.80 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 8574.50 and 8605.40. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC up by 3.80%, Tata Steel up by 2.78%, Sesa Sterlite up by 2.59%, Hindalco up by 2.14% and Jindal Steel & Power up by 2.14%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 1.87%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.07%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.99%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.92% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Asian Markets were trading in green, Shanghai Composite up by 14.7 points or 0.47% to 3,131.05, KOSPI Index up by 15.69 points or 0.82% to 1,918.31, Straits Times up by 20.8 points or 0.63% to 3,328.50, Taiwan Weighted up by 77.63 points or 0.85% to 9,251.69, Hang Seng up by 111.28 points or 0.47% to 23,849.77 and Nikkei 225 up by 330.71 points or 1.94% to 17,345.00. While,  Jakarta Composite down 25.71 points or 0.5% to 5,126.39, FTSE Bursa Malaysia and KLCI down 3.51 points or 0.2% to 1,749.80