Markets maintain the gains; broader indices outperform

The Indian markets holding their gains for the fourth straight session were up by around half a percent in early noon session. Although, the gains are not large but the benchmarks steadily moving upward were easily sailing above the psychological levels of 26800 (Sensex) and 8050 (Nifty). Traders seems to have got excited with reports that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who left for a nine-day visit to the United States last night, will hold meetings with Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) and top CEOs of American financial companies during his stay. Also, the surge in monsoon rain in the past week has brought good news for the common man as well as traders. Rainfall in the first half of the key crop-planting month has been 13 per cent higher than average, significantly better than expectations.  Back on street, while there was sustained buying in the blue-chip stocks amid a firming trend in Asian markets, the broader markets were outperforming with gains of over a percent. On sectoral front, barring mild weakness in power sector all the indices were trading in green with FMCG, healthcare and consumer durables posting prominent gains.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26813.79, up by 127.28 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 26728.89 and 26857.37. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were outperforming the benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.10%, while Small cap index gained 1.21%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.47%, Consumer Durables up by 1.16%, Realty up by 1.06%, INFRA up by 0.56%, Capital Goods up by 0.52%, while Power down by 0.19% was the lone losing index on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 3.43%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.90%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.92%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.85% and Tata Steel up by 1.60%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.46%, BHEL down by 1.69%, Tata Power down by 1.28%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.86% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.63% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Textile industry body, the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL) has said that removal of benefits on exports to African countries in the new foreign trade policy will affect shipments of value added products like cotton dyed and printed fabrics.

In the new Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 all benefits on exports to African countries has been removed, seriously impacting exports of value added products like cotton dyed and printed fabrics and made-ups to African countries. Earlier, in the Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14, exports of cotton fabrics and made ups to many African countries were granted duty credit scrips at 4 percent of the Free On Board (FOB) value of exports in general and in some cases 7 percent.

TEXPROCIL chairman R K Dalmia has urged the government to include exports of value added products to African countries in the new Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20, stating that withdrawal of these benefits on exports of cotton fabrics and made ups to African countries has put the exporters into a huge dilemma.

The council had already urged the Centre to conclude FTAs with the European Union, Australia and Canada to remove trade barriers and gain market access to these markets, saying that lack of adequate focus and proper planning towards boosting exports will lead to steep decline in cotton textile exports.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8078.75, up by 31.45 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 8048.95 and 8092.55. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 3.57%, Hindustan Unilever up by 3.01%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.87%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.83% and Tata Steel up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.46%, BHEL down by 1.63%, Tata Power down by 1.48%, BPCL down by 1.11% and Cairn India down by 0.91% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 3.8 points or 0.22% to 1,726.04, KOSPI Index gained 6.14 points or 0.3% to 2,034.86, Shanghai Composite was higher by 28.05 points or 0.57% to 4,915.48, Straits Times added 45.09 points or 1.37% to 3,343.18, Jakarta Composite gained 64.98 points or 1.33% to 4,937.58 and Hang Seng surged by 237.83 points or 0.9% to 26,804.53. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 lost 38.67 points or 0.19% to 20,219.27 and Taiwan Weighted declined by 22.95 points or 0.25% to 9,189.83