Benchmarks continue to trade in fine fettle in noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade in fine fettle in afternoon deals with frontline gauges inching towards their crucial 8,100 (Nifty) and 26,850 (Sensex) levels. Sentiments remained up-beat with Asian Development Bank president Takehiko Nakao statement that the bank is looking to increase exposure in India, especially in infrastructure, skill development and urban services, and proposes to increase lending to the country by almost half to $12 billion by 2018. Also, the progress in monsoon and narrowing trade deficit for the month of May has lifted the sentiment on Dalal Street. Appreciation in Indian rupee too aided the sentiments. The Indian currency has strengthened against the greenback on the back of selling of the US dollars by banks and the exporters.

On the global front, European markets have made a positive start with DAX and FTSE trading in green, while CAC was trading with modest cut in early deals. Asian markets were trading mostly in the green at this point of time ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement later in the day. 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. None of the sectoral indices were trading in the red, while FMCG and healthcare witnessed the maximum gain in trade, consumer durables, realty, infrastructure, capital goods, auto and metal too were trading significantly. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,533 shares on the gaining side against 785 shares on the losing side while 105 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26821.21, up by 134.70 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 26728.89 and 26857.37. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.19%, while Small cap index up by 1.31%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.56%, Healthcare up by 1.39%, Consumer Durables up by 1.19%, Realty up by 1.02% and Infrastructure up by 0.69%, while there were no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 3.78%, Hindustan Unilever up by 3.19%, Tata Steel up by 1.95%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.86% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.61%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.58%, BHEL down by 1.53%, Tata Power down by 1.01%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.87% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in line with the announcement last year that the new crop insurance scheme will be in place next year, the government is going to launch a new crop insurance scheme with a clause guaranteeing minimum income to cultivators, in case of a natural calamity. Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh has said that the new scheme is going to entail minimum income clause for farmers.

He further informed that the Centre has started discussion with states and all stakeholders on further improving upon the insurance product, which would not only ensure the farmers against yield loss but also provide security for their income.

The Agriculture minister also said that Centre is examining the issue of rising premiums under the existing crop insurance programme, adding that “The issues of rising premium rates under existing crop insurance programme are being examined and we have to make efforts for bringing the premium rates at a reasonable level which could be affordable to the farmers.”

A Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme 'National Agricultural Insurance Scheme' (NAIS) was started from 1999-2000 but the scheme could not translate into actuarial regime as conceptualized, later National Crop Insurance Programme (NCIP) was introduced from 2013-14 with different components to compensate farmers differently by using different methodology for computing crop losses to farmers. Some of the states adopted the MNAIS (modified NAIS) and some states have expressed few reservations about its implementation. Hence, states have been allowed to implement MNAIS or NAIS on their choice.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8082.60, up by 35.30 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 8048.95 and 8092.55. There were 34 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 3.99%, Hindustan Unilever up by 3.26%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.89%, Tata Steel up by 1.77% and Bosch up by 1.73%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.58%, BHEL down by 1.38%, Tata Power down by 1.21%, BPCL down by 1.06% and Indusind Bank down by 1.00% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the green, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 4.7 points or 0.27% to 1,726.94, KOSPI Index increased 6.14 points or 0.3% to 2,034.86, Straits Times surged 45.86 points or 1.39% to 3,343.95, Jakarta Composite soared 72.9 points or 1.5% to 4,945.50, Shanghai Composite jumped 75.5 points or 1.54% to 4,962.93 and Hang Seng was up by 247.33 points or 0.93% to 26,814.03. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 decreased 38.67 points or 0.19% to 20,219.27 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 22.95 points or 0.25% to 9,189.83.

European Markets were trading mostly in the green; Germany’s DAX gained 0.20% and UK’s FTSE was up by 0.14%. However, France’s CAC was down by 0.13%.