Markets continue to trade in green in afternoon session

Indian bourses continue to trade in green in the afternoon session as buying momentum in the equities persisted, however a marginal downfall from day's high levels was seen as some selling appeared in metal and FMCG stocks. Though most of the sectoral indices were trading in red, buying witnessed in capital goods, banking and infrastructure stocks provided much needed support to the major indices. Firm global cues and positive economic related announcements also added to the optimistic sentiments. The IMF has highlighted that Indian economic growth at  6.5% in 2016 will surpass China's projected growth rate of 6.3%. Furthermore, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has asserted that India will continue to introduce reforms including through the use of ordinances to make it easier for companies to do business in India. Among blue chip stocks, Bharti Airtel was top gainer up by around 3.38%, while Sesa Sterlite was top loser trading down by around 2.04%. However, broad based including mid cap and small cap indices were trading down by over 0.25%.

Excel Crop Care dipped around 8% to Rs 962 after the company engaged in agrochemicals business reported a disappointing set of numbers for Q3FY15. Furthermore, shares of pharmaceutical company Natco Pharma has slipped 5% to Rs 1,436 on reports that the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Teva over patent for multiple sclerosis drug.

On global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in green with Jakarta Composite up by 0.01% and KOSPI Index up by 0.15%. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 8,700 and 28,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2,641 stocks traded, 1,067 stocks advanced, while 1,472 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28889.67, up by 105.00 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 28792.57 and 28958.10. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.27%, while Small cap index down by 0.29%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were INFRA up by 0.94%, Capital Goods up by 0.76%, Bankex up by 0.64%, PSU up by 0.43% and TECK up by 0.41%. On the other hand, Metal down by 1.14%, FMCG down by 0.57%, Realty down by 0.27%, Power down by 0.20% and Auto down by 0.15% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 3.38%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.84%, SBI up by 2.67%, HDFC up by 2.39% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.41%. On the flip side, Sesa Sterlite down by 2.04%, Cipla down by 1.99%, ITC down by 1.90%, Wipro down by 1.79% and Hindalco down by 1.59% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has asserted that India will continue to introduce reforms including through the use of ordinances to make it easier for companies to do business in India. Highlighting the government’s commitment to improve the India’s ranking in global ease-of-doing business indices, the Minister stated that in cases where parliamentary approval would have taken time the government used the ordinance route to rapidly implement the changes. Since May 2014, the new government has introduced more than 40 changes to the rules of the Companies Act 2013. Nirmala Sitharaman is currently on the UK visit aimed at strengthening trade and investment ties between both countries.

Persuading global investors towards Indian growth story, Commerce Minister stressed that the government would not use retrospective taxation as a measure of revenue generation and the government is committed to simplifying the tax framework and will announce some more measures in forthcoming budget.

The UK is among the top ten countries that invest more in India. FDI during the April-November FY15 increased by 22% y-o-y to $18.88 billion from $15.45 billion recorded in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. The sectors that received highest inflows during the first eight months of current fiscal include telecommunications ($2.47 billion), services ($1.84 billion) automobile ($1.53 billion), pharmaceuticals ($1.15 billion) and computer software and hardware ($862 million).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8717.30, up by 21.70 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 8689.60 and 8741.85. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bank Of Baroda up by 3.96%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.41%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.82%, SBI up by 2.70% and HDFC up by 2.27%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 2.46%, Sesa Sterlite down by 2.38%, Hindalco down by 2.04%, Wipro down by 1.80% and Jindal Steel & Power down by 1.80% were the top losers.

Asian Markets were trading in green, Jakarta Composite up by 0.63 points or 0.01% to 5,166.72, KOSPI Index up by 2.92 points or 0.15% to 1,921.23, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI up by 6.13 points or 0.35% to 1,756.24, Straits Times up by 6.86 points or 0.21% to 3,340.88, Taiwan Weighted up by 68.02 points or 0.74% to 9,319.71, Shanghai Composite up by 121.79 points or 3.84% to 3,294.84 and Hang Seng up by 373.19 points or 1.56% to 24,324.35. While, Nikkei 225 down 85.11 points or 0.49% to 17,281.19