Markets trim gains; Nifty continues to trade above 8,800 level

Indian equity benchmarks paired some of their early gains as investors opted to book some of their profit at record high levels, though key indices managed to trade above their crucial 8,800 (Nifty) and 29,200 (Sensex) levels in late morning session on positive global cues triggered by European Central Bank’s stimulus measures. Sentiments remained up-beat after finance minister Arun Jaitley said that the economy is set to clock a 6.5 per cent growth next year and then take off to reach 8-9 per cent in the years to come on the back of huge public support for reforms initiated by the government. Some support also came in from reports that foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 593 crore on Thursday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

On the global front, Asian stocks extended a global rally on Friday after the European Central Bank launched a landmark bond-buying stimulus programme that buoyed investors’ risk appetite, drove bonds higher and left the euro pinned near 11-year lows. Meanwhile, crude oil prices jumped after Saudi Arabia announced that King Abdullah had died and his successor, Salman, moved quickly to name his own heir to rule the world’s biggest oil exporter. US crude rose 94 cents to $47.25 a barrel.

Back home, appreciation in Indian rupee too supported the sentiments. The partially convertible rupee was trading at 61.49 per dollar against the Thursday’s close of 61.69 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange. On the sectoral front, capital goods, auto and banking witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while consumer durables, software and metal remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices, however, were struggling to get any traction and reeling under pressure, while the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 868 shares on the gaining side against 1472 shares on the losing side while 91 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29235.53, up by 229.51 points or 0.79% after trading in a range of 29189.33 and 29408.73. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.36%, while Small cap index down by 0.63%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.08%, Auto up by 0.82%, Bankex up by 0.81%, FMCG up by 0.45% and Infrastructure up by 0.40% while, Consumer Durables down by 0.94%, IT down by 0.39%, Metal down by 0.30%, PSU down by 0.15% and TECK down by 0.09% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 2.73%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.53%, HDFC Bank up by 2.43%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.04% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.90%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 1.73%, Coal India down by 0.81%, BHEL down by 0.76%, Infosys down by 0.74% and TCS down by 0.54% were the top losers.

MEanwhile, optimistic over the Indian economic growth story, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has stated that economy is set to clock a 6.5% growth next year and then take off to reach 8-9% in the years to come on the back of huge public support for reforms initiated by the government.

By adding further, the Minister stated that 5.5% growth in the previous fiscal , which was reasonable by the global, however it is much below the real capacity of India and the target is get back to 8-9% growth rate in future. Finance Minister is scheduled to present the Budget for 2015-16 on February 28 in the Lok Sabha. He is likely to spell out the strategy of the government to boost manufacturing and also economic growth in the forthcoming Budget. Referring to the price situation, Finance Minister stated that India has a moderate level of inflation, mainly on account of declining commodity prices in global and domestic markets.

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 domestic economy has shown signs of nascent recovery and expanded at 5.5% during H1FY15 as compared to 4.9% in the same period of previous fiscal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8811.40, up by 50.00 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 8803.80 and 8866.40. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC up by 2.72%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.28%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.18%, HDFC Bank up by 2.13% and Tata Motors up by 1.85%. On the flip side, PNB down by 1.83%, GAIL India down by 1.76%, Bank of Baroda down by 1.50%, Lupin down by 1.27% and BHEL down by 1.11% were the top losers.

All the Asian equity indices were trading higher; KOSPI Index rose 10.18 points or 0.53% to 1,931.00, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 18.43 points or 1.03% to 1,800.18, Straits Times soared 36.8 points or 1.09% to 3,407.09, Shanghai Composite surged 48.55 points or 1.45% to 3,391.90, Jakarta Composite jumped 66.35 points or 1.26% to 5,319.53, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 91.79 points or 0.98% to 9,461.30, Nikkei 225 added 171.72 points or 0.99% to 17,500.74 and Hang Seng was up by 326.98 points or 1.33% to 24,849.61.