Benchmarks trade in fine fettle in early deals; Nifty regains 8,300 mark

Extending their previous session’s rally, Indian equity benchmarks have made a positive start and are trading in fine fettle in early deals on Monday with Sensex and Nifty recapturing their crucial 27,450 and 8,300 levels respectively. Some support came in with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that making taxation more reasonable and improving ease of doing business will be among his top priorities going ahead. Meanwhile, finance ministry announced that it has contained the fiscal deficit at four per cent of GDP for 2014-15 at Rs 5,01,880 crore, which is even lower than the stiff 4.1 per cent target set in the Budget. Some encouragement also came with the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) awarding the Narendra Modi government seven marks on a scale of 10 for its performance over the past year.

On the global front, the US markets made a mixed closing in last session; there were some weak economic data that kept the traders in a cautious mood. The Asian markets were trading mixed at this point of time. However, the Japanese market was trading with gains of around half a percent as yen slid against the US dollar.

Back home, there was broad based buying witnessed in the markets and apart from the blue chips, the broader markets too equally participated in the rally. Meanwhile, none of the sectoral indices were trading in the red, while oil and gas and healthcare witnessed the maximum gain in trade. Consumer durables, infrastructure, fast moving consumer goods, auto, banking and metal too were trading significantly. The broader indices too were trading in-line with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1299 shares on the gaining side against 538 shares on the losing side while 62 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27484.16, up by 160.16 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 27370.28 and 27514.03. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.81%, while Small cap index gained 0.82%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.64%, Healthcare up by 0.97%, Consumer Durables up by 0.88%, Infrastructure up by 0.85% and FMCG up by 0.78%, while there were no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 2.15%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.13%, ONGC up by 1.70%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.48% and GAIL India up by 1.44%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.67%, Coal India down by 0.19%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.15%, Tata Motors down by 0.12% and Tata Steel down by 0.03% 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 8311.60, up by 49.25 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 8271.95 and 8321.90. There were 39 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 2.54% and Lupin up by 2.54% and Ultratech Cement up by 2.22% and Hindalco up by 2.19% and Asian Paints up by 2.18%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 0.99%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.78%, Power Grid down by 0.61%, Coal India down by 0.52% and Idea Cellular down by 0.40% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite rose 1 points or 0.02% to 4,309.69, Jakarta Composite increased 1.49 points or 0.03% to 5,228.58, Taiwan Weighted gained 14.09 points or 0.15% to 9,593.57 and Nikkei 225 was up by 134.58 points or 0.68% to 19,867.50.

On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 205.51 points or 0.74% to 27,616.77, Straits Times slipped 5.92 points or 0.17% to 3,457.18, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dipped 0.23 points or 0.01% to 1,811.69 and KOSPI Index was down by 0.17 points or 0.01% to 2,106.33.