Benchmarks continue to trade in green; Nifty holds 8400 mark

Indian equity markets added gains to continue their firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments were on optimistic note from the early trade after UN World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) reported that India's economy is projected to grow by 7.6% this year and 7.7% in 2016, overtaking China which is projected to grow by 7% in 2015 and 6.8% next year. Traders were seen piling position in IT, TECK and Bankex stocks while selling was witnessed in Auto, Metal and Capital Goods sectors stocks. In scrip specific development, Persistent Systems was trading in green after foreign brokerage firm initiated coverage on the stock with buy rating. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals was trading in green after Reserve Bank of India increased FII investment limit in the stock to 49% from 40% earlier.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,400 and 27,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1276:1271 while 126 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27825.15, up by 179.62 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 27743.99 and 27903.01. There were 18 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green and red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.07%, while Small cap index up by 0.27%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.66%, TECK up by 1.37%, Bankex up by 1.00%, INFRA up by 0.64% and Power up by 0.42% while, Auto down by 0.57%, Metal down by 0.50%, Capital Goods down by 0.22% and FMCG down by 0.03% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Power up by 2.31%, Wipro up by 1.76%, TCS up by 1.75%, SBI up by 1.75% and HDFC up by 1.60%.

On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 2.53%, Tata Steel down by 1.67%, BHEL down by 1.64%, Tata Motors down by 0.85% and Hindalco down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, reiterating BJP's stand on FDI in multi-brand retail, Finance minister, Arun Jaitley has said that his government was never in favour of allowing foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail and a recent government notification only published the existing policies that was decided by the UPA government.

On May 12, the DIPP in its consolidated FDI policy document retained the previous UPA government's decision of allowing foreign retailers to open multi-brand stores with 51 per cent ownership, sparking speculations that government had now turned its side in the favour of multi-brand retail, which was its pre-election manifesto that won its commanding majority from an electorate.

BJP manifesto had said, barring the multi-brand retail sector, FDI will be allowed in sectors wherever needed for job and asset creation, infrastructure and acquisition of niche technology and specialised expertise.

Although the previous government had allowed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, notably, only one investment proposal of the UK-based Tesco so far has been cleared.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8418.15, up by 52.50 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 8391.45 and 8440.35. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 3.26%, HCL Tech up by 2.25%, Tata Power up by 2.11%, Wipro up by 1.96% and SBI up by 1.92%.

On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 2.66%, Idea Cellular down by 1.90%, Cairn India down by 1.84%, BHEL down by 1.70% and Tata Steel down by 1.22% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.87 points or 0.05% to 1,810.59, KOSPI Index increased 18.69 points or 0.88% to 2,139.54, Shanghai Composite increased 28.74 points or 0.65% to 4,446.29, Jakarta Composite increased 31.82 points or 0.6% to 5,301.19 and Nikkei 225 increased 170.18 points or 0.85% to 20,196.56.

On the other hand, Hang Seng decreased 108.49 points or 0.39% to 27,585.05, Taiwan Weighted decreased 31.46 points or 0.32% to 9,685.31 and Straits Times decreased 9.43 points or 0.27% to 3,444.61.

The European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 42.61 points or 0.36% to 11,810.72, France’s CAC decreased 18.41 points or 0.36% to 5,098.89 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 24.34 points or 0.35% to 6,970.76.