Markets trade firm on sustained buying activities

Local equity markets were trading higher with gains of around three tenths of a percent on sustained buying activities by funds and retail investors amidst mixed global cues which lifted both Sensex and Nifty above psychologically crucial 27,750 and 8,400 levels respectively. Markets witnessed sharp recovery after previous two sessions’ sharp drubbing on tax concerns after media reports indicate that the income tax authorities have issued notices to several foreign institutional investors pertaining to their MAT liabilities for prior years. Meanwhile, the session also was productive for broader indices, which were trading with gains in the range of 0.30-0.50%.

On the global front, Asian stocks were mostly higher on Wednesday despite Japan reporting its first trade surplus in three years, with overnight fall on Wall Street continuing to weigh on the sentiment. Japan posted its first monthly trade surplus in nearly three years in March, thanks to falling import costs from cheaper oil prices, along with a modest recovery in exports. It is unclear how long surpluses will continue as Japan's oil and gas import bill could rise again due to the weak yen. But a U.S. recovery has helped boost Japan's exports, and the government has been aggressively encouraging tourism.

Closer home, most of the sectoral indices on BSE were holding into positive territory, however exceptions were stocks from Auto, Information Technology and Infrastructure. On the flip side, maximum demand was witnessed by stocks from Capital Goods, Realty and FMCG counters. IT stocks tanked in trade after Wipro reported a muted 2% year-on-year growth in bottom line in Q4 March 2015 and issued a tepid revenue guidance for Q1 June 2015. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of advances which thumped declines in the ratio of 1320:693; while 39 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27749.71, up by 73.67 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 27687.78 and 27827.66. 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 0.30%, while Small cap index gained 0.47%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.76%, Realty up by 0.50%, FMCG up by 0.47%, Oil & Gas up by 0.34%, Metal up by 0.31% while, IT down by 1.03%, TECK down by 0.86%, INFRA down by 0.37%, Auto down by 0.19%, Consumer Durables down by 0.03% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.64%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.26%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.88%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.54% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.17%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 4.20%, Infosys down by 1.16%, Sesa Sterlite down by 0.85%, ONGC down by 0.81% and Tata Motors down by 0.75% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to formulate a policy for promoting bulk drug manufacturing in the country, the government has been evaluating recommendations of a committee formed to study issues related to critical active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The government, while taking various measures for promoting 'Make in India' initiative in pharmaceutical sector had constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Secretary, Department of Health Research in this direction.

The committee, among many other things recommended establishment of Mega Parks for APIs with common facilities such as common effluent treatment plants, testing facilities, captive power plants/assured power supply by state systems, common utilities /services such as storage, testing laboratories, IPR management, designing, guest houses/accommodation etc maintained by a separate special purpose vehicles (SPV).

Basically, the policy is being contemplated to reduce dependence on imports. This could be done so by making changes to the existing regulations to promote medical devices production is being chalked out by the Centre. Notably, the measures, in various stages of formulation, are focused on providing impetus to the pharmaceutical industry and making medicines as well as medical devices affordable and accessible.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8389.25, up by 11.50 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 8367.75 and 8423.20. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.65%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.26%, ACC up by 2.21%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.76% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.57%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 4.14%, Zee Entertainment down by 2.38%, HCL Tech. down by 2.04%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.88% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.69% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; with Hang Seng trading higher by 31.9 points or 0.11% to 27,882.39; Taiwan Weighted trading higher by 79.02 points or 0.83% to 9,613.00; Shanghai Composite trading higher by 85.66 points or 2% to 4,379.28 and Nikkei 225 trading higher by 224.81 points or 1.13% to 20,133.90.

On the flip side, Straits Times trading lower by 11.07 points or 0.32% to 3,497.54; Jakarta Composite trading lower 7.23 points or 0.13% to 5,453.35; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI trading lower 4.07 points or 0.22% to 1,858.73 and KOSPI Index trading lower 0.9 points or 0.04% to 2,143.89