Benchmarks continue firm trade; Nifty holds 8250 mark

Indian equity markets continued their firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments were on optimistic note on UN ESCAP report which forecasted Indian economic growth at 8.1% in the current year from 7.4% last year, spurred by strong consumer spending amid low inflation, infrastructure projects and government's reform measures. Traders were seen piling position in Consumer Durable, Capital Goods and FMCG stocks while selling was witnessed in Metal, Oil & Gas and Power sector. In scrip specific development, Jubilant FoodWorks, the company that sells pizzas under the Domino’s brand, was trading firm after the company posted its strongest profit growth in nine quarters. The company reported a net profit of Rs 31.5 crore on sales of Rs 542 crore in the March quarter.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mixed while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,250 and 27,300 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1464:1036 while 128 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27351.14, up by 145.08 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 27159.76 and 27379.57. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.48%, while Small cap index up by 0.98%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.29%, Capital Goods up by 0.93%, FMCG up by 0.79%, Bankex up by 0.69%, Auto up by 0.67% while, Metal down by 1.04%, Oil & Gas down by 0.08%, Power down by 0.06%, Realty down by 0.02% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 2.44%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.04%, HDFC up by 1.86%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.65% and Axis Bank up by 1.29%.

On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.23%, Vedanta down by 1.68%, Coal India down by 0.99%, GAIL India down by 0.85% and ICICI Bank down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in an encouraging development for the economy, Finance Minister, Arun Jaitely underscored that foreign direct investment (FDI) in India grew by about 40% Year-On-Year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 1.76 lakh crore in 2014-15 as compared to Rs 1.26 lakh crore in 2013-14.

The minister further asserted that out of 350 proposals received, 241 proposals were cleared in 11 meetings. Notably, the government has relaxed FDI norms in various sectors, including insurance, railways and medical devices, to boost FDI in the country.

According to the data of Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) the top 10 sectors that receive maximum foreign investment include services, automobiles, telecommunication, computer software and hardware and pharmaceuticals. Meanwhile, country-wise, India attracts maximum FDI from Mauritius, Singapore, the Netherlands, Japan, and the US.

Healthy inflow of foreign investments into the country would help ease India's balance of payments (BoP) situation. Notably, the India is estimated to have a requirement of around $1 trillion investment over five years to overhaul its infrastructure sector, including ports, airports and highways to boost growth.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8263.45, up by 39.25 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 8212.20 and 8279.20. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Lupin up by 3.06%, IndusInd Bank up by 2.34%, SBI up by 2.31%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.05% and HDFC up by 1.93%.

On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.23%, PNB down by 2.06%, Bank of Baroda down by 1.76%, Vedanta down by 1.63% and HCL Tech down by 1.57% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mixed; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.85 points or 0.1% to 1,809.40, Straits Times increased 7.78 points or 0.23% to 3,463.56, Nikkei 225 increased 162.68 points or 0.83% to 19,732.92 and Hang Seng increased 535.73 points or 1.96% to 27,822.28.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite decreased 69.62 points or 1.59% to 4,308.69, Taiwan Weighted decreased 31.35 points or 0.33% to 9,579.48, Jakarta Composite decreased 24.14 points or 0.46% to 5,221.99 and KOSPI Index decreased 13.83 points or 0.65% to 2,106.50.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 24.73 points or 0.49% to 5,054.04, Germany’s DAX increased 60.04 points or 0.52% to 11,619.86 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 25.6 points or 0.37% to 6,998.64.