Benchmarks add gains; FMCG, Realty lead

Indian equity markets added gains and continued its firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. Investors have started eyeing Union Budget which is scheduled on Saturday to get further direction of the market. The Railway Budget 2015-16 will be tabled in the parliament by the rail minister Suresh Prabhu on Thursday. Traders were seen piling positions in FMCG, Realty and Capital Goods stocks, while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, Metal and Auto sector stocks.  In scrip specific development, Suzlon Energy was trading in green amid reports that Sun Pharma’s Dilip Shanghvi will provide as much as Rs 3,800 crore of security that will help the wind turbine maker in availing credits. Profit booking was witnessed in railway stocks ahead of Railway Budget 2015-16 scheduled on Thursday, February 26, 2015. The market may remain volatile this week as traders may roll over positions in the Futures & Options (F&O) segment from the near month i.e. February 2015 series to next month i.e. March 2015 series. The near month February 2015 derivatives contracts will expire on Thursday i.e. February 26, 2015.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green while the European markets were trading mostly on optimistic note.  Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,750 and 29,100 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1082:1583 while 120 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29105.46, up by 130.35 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 28917.63 and 29128.57. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green and red; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.07%, while Small cap index down by 0.45%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.52%, Realty up by 1.23%, Capital Goods up by 0.90%, IT up by 0.80%, TECK up by 0.59% while, Oil & Gas down by 0.84%, Metal down by 0.48%, Auto down by 0.11%, PSU down by 0.09% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.31%, ITC up by 2.01%, BHEL up by 1.94%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.55% and Cipla up by 1.23%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.78%, Sesa Sterlite down by 2.53%, Tata Steel down by 1.23%, Tata Motors down by 1.12% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.05% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, addressing joint sitting of Parliament at the start of the Budget Session, President Pranab Mukherjee underscored India had emerged as the fastest growing large economy with a promising future. He acknowledged sustained efforts and series of policy initiatives taken by the government to put back the economy to the high growth trajectory, with an estimated growth of 7.4% in 2014-15.

He highlighted measures taken by the government to improve ease of doing business, ending financial untouchability and containing inflation with a view of stimulating economy and also lauded government’s decisive measures to help lower the inflation to 'record low' and also boost capital markets.

Emphasizing to some of the major initiatives taken by the government for improving ease of doing business, Mukherjee pointed to the government’s efforts in streamlining various entry and exit regulations and introducing the process of filing online applications for various corporate activities.

Further, the president assured that Center would expedite implementation of the recommendations of the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) and simplify the indirect tax regime, broaden the tax base and result in better compliance.

He also appreciated government’s efforts for ‘Make in India’ initiative and passing Insurance Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014, which promulgated enhancing the foreign equity cap from 26% to 49%, while safeguarding Indian ownership and control, besides SEBI’s new Foreign Portfolio Investment norms that have established a unified, simple regulatory framework.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8791.55, up by 36.60 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 8736.90 and 8800.25. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.48%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.31%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.09%, BHEL up by 2.00% and ITC up by 1.92%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.94%, Sesa Sterlite down by 2.71%, Cairn India down by 2.69%, Jindal Steel & Power down by 2.49% and Bank of Baroda down by 1.70% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 7.73 points or 0.39% to 1,976.12, Jakarta Composite increased 7.8 points or 0.14% to 5,411.08, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 7.99 points or 0.44% to 1,817.38, Straits Times increased 9.91 points or 0.29% to 3,431.21, Taiwan Weighted increased 99.86 points or 1.05% to 9,629.37 and Nikkei 225 increased 136.56 points or 0.74% to 18,603.48.

On the other hand, Hang Seng decreased 86.69 points or 0.35% to 24,750.07. Chinese stock exchange was closed on account of ‘Lunar New Year’ holiday.

The European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 1.21 points or 0.02% to 6,913.37, France’s CAC increased 4.12 points or 0.1% to 4,867.24 while, Germany’s DAX decreased 0.63 points or 0.01% to 11,130.29.