Benchmarks trade in fine fettle in early deals on firm global cues

Buoyed by firm global cues, Indian equity benchmarks have made a positive start and are trading in fine fettle in early deals on Wednesday. The US markets made a positive close in last session supported by the dovish testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, where she indicated that the Fed is not likely to begin raising interest rates for at least the next couple monetary policy meetings. Asian markets were trading in the green at this point of time with indices extending a five-month high, after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s comment, though the Chinese market were marginally in red despite flash Manufacturing PMI coming four-month high at 50.1 in February against 49.7 in January.

Back home, some support came in with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the government is committed to work for the betterment of every citizen. Though, there will be some concern as well, with the 14th Finance Commission suggesting a fiscal deficit target of 3.6 percent of GDP in 2015-16 and 3 percent in the subsequent years on the back of likely pick-up in economic growth. Also, as a Business Confidence Survey by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) showed a marginal dip in the proportion of respondents anticipating 'moderately to substantially better' performance over the near-term at economy, industry and company level.

On the sectoral front, oil and gas, realty and public sector undertaking witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while fast moving consumer goods remained the lone loser on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were trading in-line with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1266 shares on the gaining side against 724 shares on the losing side while 87 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29183.97, up by 179.31 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 29115.32 and 29269.83. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.44%, while Small cap index up by 0.62%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.51%, Realty up by 1.03%, PSU up by 0.70%, Power up by 0.61% and Metal up by 0.60% while, FMCG down by 0.19% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 2.09%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.80%, HDFC up by 1.62%, Reliance Industries up by 1.57% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.56%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.63%, ITC down by 0.34%, Sun Pharma down by 0.25%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.13% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.13% 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 8814.00, up by 51.90 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 8798.00 and 8840.65. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cairn India up by 2.06%, ONGC up by 2.02%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.97%, Ambuja Cement up by 1.75% and Jindal Steel & Power up by 1.70%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 1.37%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.65%, ITC down by 0.49%, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 0.43% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.33% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the green; Shanghai Composite increased marginally 0.09 points to 3,247.00, Straits Times rose 10.1 points or 0.29% to 3,447.71, KOSPI Index jumped 14.5 points or 0.73% to 1,990.62, Jakarta Composite advanced 17.57 points or 0.32% to 5,434.88, Taiwan Weighted added 49 points or 0.51% to 9,678.37 and Hang Seng was up by 106.34 points or 0.43% to 24,856.41. On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 9.2 points or 0.51% to 1,809.48 and Nikkei 225 was down by 5.23 points or 0.03% to 18,598.25.