Markets trade in tight range in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks were trading in tight band, keeping their head above water in late morning session as sentiments remained up-beat on report that foreign direct investment (FDI) in India almost doubled to $2.16 billion in December 2014, compared to $1.10 billion in the same month of 2013. During the April-December period of the current fiscal, FDI rose by 27 per cent to $21.04 billion as against $16.56 billion in the same period last fiscal. Back on street, the gains remained capped as investors remained cautious ahead of the Union Budget to be presented on February 28.

On the global front, Asian shares got off to a lacklustre start on Monday as many countries in the region returned from Lunar New Year holidays, with sentiment supported by relief that Greece reached a deal to avert an immediate fiscal crisis. Moreover, the Japanese market was trading higher by over half a percent, after eurozone ministers agreed to extend Greece’s bailout by four months.

Back home, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 89.41 crore on Friday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. On the sectoral front, capital goods, software and technology witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while consumer durables, realty and oil and gas remained the top losers. The broader indices were out performing benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1289 shares on the gaining side against 1044 shares on the losing side while 106 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29305.75, up by 74.34 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 29250.26 and 29362.96. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.37%, while Small cap index gained 0.64%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.99%, IT up by 0.75%, TECK up by 0.55%, Power up by 0.24% and FMCG up by 0.22% while, Consumer Durables down by 0.83%, Realty down by 0.32%, Oil & Gas down by 0.31%, Healthcare down by 0.24% and Auto down by 0.13% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sesa Sterlite up by 1.82%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.50%, Hindalco up by 1.21%, TCS up by 1.13% and Infosys up by 0.75%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 1.22%, Tata Steel down by 0.93%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.90%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.77% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of Shipping and Road Transport, Nitin Gadkari has unveiled ambitious plans for Rs 10 lakh crore investment in highways and shipping sectors by 2019. Emphasising that the face of India's basic infrastructure will be changed in five years, he said that it is his endeavour to do work worth over Rs 5 lakh crore in highways sector during his present tenure and another Rs 5 lakh crore will be invested in the shipping sector taking the investments in both the crucial infrastructure ministries to Rs 10 lakh crore. The minister further stated that despite a plethora of problems in the first year the Ministry has initiated works worth Rs 1 lakh crore and the problems are now getting reduced

Gadkari said that the focus was also on rolling out stalled projects, bringing equity, allotment of terminated schemes, streamlining work and fast-tracking clearances and his first duty is to build 30 km of roads a day and by the March-end this year, to achieve the target of 15 km a day from 2 km a day in the previous regime. On the anvil is converting Delhi-Meerut highways into 16-lanes, besides completing Delhi-Jaipur highways by June this year.

The minister exuded confidence that the infrastructure will get good allocation in the upcoming budget and said that the annual toll collection is Rs 10,000 crore and in two to three years it will go up to Rs 13,000 crore. If we securitise it for 15 years, we will get about Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8848.60, up by 15.00 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 8838.90 and 8869.00. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sesa Sterlite up by 1.86%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.46%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.39%, Hindalco up by 1.12% and TCS up by 1.06%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 3.21%, Jindal Steel & Power down by 2.86%, DLF down by 2.05%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.90% and Cairn India down by 1.44% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI advanced 0.92 points or 0.05% to 1,808.79, Straits Times rose 5.16 points or 0.15% to 3,440.82, KOSPI Index increased 6.59 points or 0.34% to 1,968.04 and Nikkei 225 was up by 97.07 points or 0.53% to 18,429.37. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 9.05 points or 0.17% to 5,391.05 and Hang Seng was down by 6.47 points or 0.03% to 24,825.61.