Benchmarks add gains; Metal, Bankex lead

Indian equity markets added gains and continued their firm trade hovering near the highest point of the day in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments got some support after IMF in its report stated that India is expected to grow at 6.3%t this year and 6.5% in 2016 by when it is likely to cross China’s projected growth rate, while terming the reforms of new government led by PM Narendra Modi as promising but insisted that their implementation is key. Traders were seen piling positions in Metal, Bankex and Oil & Gas stocks while selling as witnessed in Power and Consumer Durables sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Kotak Mahindra Bank was trading in green after the private sector lender reported a 21.20% increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs. 716.61 crore for the third quarter ended December 2014.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,600 and 28,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1525:1334 while 123 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28590.83, up by 328.82 points or 1.16% after trading in a range of 28324.85 and 28610.42. 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 0.51%, while Small cap index up by 0.53%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.59%, Bankex up by 1.07%, Oil & Gas up by 0.77%, FMCG up by 0.72%, INFRA up by 0.49% while, Capital Goods down by 0.23%, Power down by 0.12% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 5.63%, Sesa Sterlite up by 4.19%, Tata Steel up by 3.52%, Axis Bank up by 3.09% and Hindalco up by 3.00%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 2.04%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.06%, TCS down by 0.79%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.75% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.68% were the top losers.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), while slashing global economic growth forecast in 2015 urged the need for all governments and central banks to pursue accommodative monetary policies and structural reforms for supporting growth. In its latest World Economic Outlook report, IMF, lowering its growth forecast by 0.3 percentage points for both the years, pegged global growth at ‘3.5%’ for 2015 and ‘3.7%’ for 2016.

Meanwhile, the international organization pointed that new factors supporting growth such as lower oil prices and also depreciation of euro and yen were being more than offset by persistent negative forces, including the lingering legacies of the crisis and lower potential growth in many countries.

It advised advanced economies to maintain accommodative monetary policies to avoid increases in real interest rates as cheaper oil increases the risk of deflation. It further added that if rates couldn’t be further reduced, the countries should pursue an accommodative policy 'through other means'.

However, for India, IMF kept its growth forecast unchanged at 5.8% for 2014 and further underscored that slower growth in china would impact growth in much of emerging Asia except India where weaker external demand was offset by the boost to the terms of trade from lower oil prices and a pickup in industrial and investment activity after policy reforms. It further, highlighted that the US was the only major economy for which growth projections have been raised as growth rebounded ahead of expectations after the contraction in the first quarter of 2014.

IMF projected growth in US to exceed 3% in 2015-16, with domestic demand supported by lower oil prices, more moderate fiscal adjustment, and continued support from an accommodative monetary policy stance, despite the projected gradual rise in interest rates. Meanwhile, for In emerging market and developing economies, IMF expects the growth to remain broadly stable at 4.3% in 2015 and to increase to 4.7 per cent in 2016 -a weaker pace than forecast in the October 2014 WEO.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8645.55, up by 94.85 points or 1.11% after trading in a range of 8574.50 and 8649.40. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC up by 5.70%, Sesa Sterlite up by 4.50%, Tata Steel up by 3.43%, Axis Bank up by 3.14% and Hindalco up by 2.96%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 2.08%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.01%, TCS down by 0.87%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.85% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.61% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 15.69 points or 0.82% to 1,918.31, Straits Times increased 25.45 points or 0.77% to 3,333.15, Shanghai Composite increased 56.7 points or 1.82% to 3,173.05, Taiwan Weighted increased 77.63 points or 0.85% to 9,251.69, Hang Seng increased 212.67 points or 0.9% to 23,951.16 and Nikkei 225 increased 352.01 points or 2.07% to 17,366.30.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite decreased 7.72 points or 0.15% to 5,144.37 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 0.16 points or 0.01% to 1,753.15.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 26.86 points or 0.61% to 4,421.79, Germany’s DAX increased 51.65 points or 0.5% to 10,294.00 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 30.81 points or 0.47% to 6,616.34.