Benchmarks add gains; Nifty surpasses 8,100 mark

Indian equity markets added gains hovering near the highest point of the day in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The progress in monsoon and narrowing trade deficit for the month of May also provided some upside. Traders were seen piling position in Consumer Durables, FMCG and Metal stocks while selling was witnessed in Power sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Ramky infrastructure was trading firm on reports that the company is in active discussions with buyers to sell four of its road assets. The company is expected to earn around Rs 1,000 crore from this sale. Eicher Motors continued its upside rally after a foreign brokerage firm maintained outperform rating on the stock. National Aluminium Company (NALCO) was trading in green on report that foreign brokerage maintained outperform rating on the stock.

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 8,100 and 26,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1663:813 while 120 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26933.03, up by 246.52 points or 0.92% after trading in a range of 26728.89 and 26940.49. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.61%, while Small cap index up by 1.47%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 2.04%, FMCG up by 1.84%, Metal up by 1.43%, Capital Goods up by 1.28% and Auto up by 0.97% while, Power down by 0.01% was the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 4.89%, Cipla up by 4.32%, Hindustan Unilever up by 3.60%, Hindalco up by 2.95% and Reliance Industries up by 2.56%.

On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.27%, BHEL down by 1.30%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.70%, Tata Power down by 0.68% and HDFC Bank down by 0.38% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who embarked on a roadshow to hardsell the India growth story to investors in a bid to attract investment, will hold meetings with Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) and top CEOs of American financial companies during his nine-day visit to the United States. Jaitley will address the select gathering of portfolio managers from FIIs as well as the executives of US companies operational in India, comprising banks, insurance and pension funds, infrastructure and manufacturing companies, defence firms and pharmaceutical corporations.

Arun Jaitley in its meeting with executives of top US companies, organised by FICCI will give details regarding broad policy agenda for reviving India’s growth while balancing inflation and what India expects from long term investors and strategists to support its growth agenda and how the Government is focused on making India an easier destination to do business. He will also give details regarding the role the foreign investors and companies can play in building-out India infrastructure in sectors like power, roads, highways and ports, among others.

The Finance Minister in his extremely busy schedule will also hold meeting with about 150 members of Council for Foreign Relations (CFR) and would highlight about likely prospects of Indian economy, investment opportunities in India and development of infrastructure among others. He will later hold meetings with USIBC AND FICCI executives and would discuss about reform measures put in place by the Government of India to make India a top investment destination.

During his stay in Washington DC, he will also meet top CEOs/senior officials of US companies, apart from addressing a press conference. He is accompanied by a small team of officers, including finance secretary Rajiv Mehrishi. A delegation from the Indian industry will also join him to highlight India’s improved investment climate and positive economic outlook on the back of recent policy initiatives of the government.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8109.35, up by 62.05 points or 0.77% after trading in a range of 8048.95 and 8111.75. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 4.98%, Cipla up by 4.44%, Hindustan Unilever up by 3.95%, Hindalco up by 3.09% and Bosch up by 2.41%.

On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.35%, BHEL down by 1.36%, BPCL down by 1.10%, Tata Power down by 1.08% and Power Grid down by 0.83% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 4.27 points or 0.25% to 1,726.51, KOSPI Index increased 6.14 points or 0.3% to 2,034.86, Straits Times increased 40.83 points or 1.24% to 3,338.92, Jakarta Composite increased 73.2 points or 1.5% to 4,945.80, Shanghai Composite increased 80.47 points or 1.65% to 4,967.90 and Hang Seng increased 187.09 points or 0.7% to 26,753.79.

On the other hand, Nikkei 225 decreased 38.67 points or 0.19% to 20,219.27 and Taiwan Weighted decreased 22.95 points or 0.25% to 9,189.83.

The European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 13.35 points or 0.12% to 11,030.66, France’s CAC decreased 10.21 points or 0.21% to 4,829.65 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 8.43 points or 0.13% to 6,701.67.