Benchmarks continue firm trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets adding gains were hovering near the highest point of the day in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. A surprisingly good start to the monsoon, an increase in Minimum Support Prices (MSP) and a favourable reading of Janet Yellen’s US Federal Reserve statement, all led the markets to price in an interest rate cut. RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had said in his June 2 monetary policy announcement that any further cuts would depend on data, among the most crucial of these being the monsoon. Sentiments also remained up-beat after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the reforms introduced in next 2-3 years will help India achieve growth rate targets higher than its current levels of 7-7.5%. Traders were seen piling position in Oil & Gas, IT and TECK stocks, while selling was being witnessed in Realty, Power and Consumer Durables sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Natco Pharma was trading firm after the US Court of Appeals found Teva Pharmaceuticals’ patent for drug Copaxone as invalid. Blue Dart Express was trading in green after the company stated that its board will meet on June 22, 2015 for noting FIPB’s approval for enhancing the firm’s stake in Blue Dart Aviation.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green while the European markets too were on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,200 and 27,300 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1345:1146 while 146 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27331.80, up by 215.97 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 27202.38 and 27350.56. 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 0.70%, while Small cap index up by 0.35%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.23%, IT up by 1.02%, TECK up by 0.93%, PSU up by 0.67%, FMCG up by 0.66%, while Realty down by 0.35%, Power down by 0.29%, Consumer Durables down by 0.10% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.12%, Wipro up by 2.85%, HDFC up by 2.75%, Hindalco up by 1.67% and ONGC up by 1.66%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.62%, BHEL down by 1.71%, Tata Power down by 0.62%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.56% and GAIL India down by 0.10% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, monsoon defying the El Nino effect is gathering pace with farmers benefitting from an increase in monsoon rains. IMD Director has though said that monsoon is expected to be normal in June boosting sowing of kharif crops but there are concerns about pick up in rainfall in the next month. Forecast of normal rains in June would encourage sowing of the kharif crop, particularly in central India

A better-than-expected start to the monsoon in an El Nino year has eased concerns of dry weather fuelling inflation in the country. Rainfall has been 11 percent more than the average till June 18 and farmers in irrigated areas have started sowing. The progress in monsoon will help sowing to gather pace in rainfed areas. Though, IMD has warned that South-West monsoon rainfall will be weaker in July, when it is expected to be 92 percent of the long-period average, and in August, when it will be 90 percent.

The met department has been predicting the monsoon's progress into some more parts of central and east India for the past few days. But barring Kerala, coastal Karnataka and some areas of the Northeast, rains have been good in regions covered so far by the rain system.

Agriculture Ministry's data has revealed that till last week of the kharif season, farmers have sown various crops like paddy in 75.10 lakh hectares compared with 82.27 lakh hectare in the year-ago period. Farmers depend on the monsoon, which accounts for more than 70% of annual rainfall, to grow crops and produce hydro- electricity, and for drinking water.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8229.35, up by 54.75 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 8195.65 and 8235.50. There were 38 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.93%, Wipro up by 2.90%, HCL Tech up by 2.55%, HDFC up by 2.46% and Bank of Baroda up by 1.98%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.69%, BHEL down by 1.93%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.47%, Power Grid down by 1.34% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.48% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Straits Times increased 3.07 points or 0.09% to 3,303.49, KOSPI Index increased 5.08 points or 0.25% to 2,046.96, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 6.7 points or 0.39% to 1,724.82, Jakarta Composite increased 28.76 points or 0.58% to 4,974.26, Hang Seng increased 65.87 points or 0.25% to 26,760.53 and Nikkei 225 increased 183.42 points or 0.92% to 20,174.24.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite decreased 306.99 points or 6.42% to 4,478.36. Taiwan Stock Exchange is closed today on account of ‘Make-Up’ holiday.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 33.34 points or 0.69% to 4,836.82, Germany’s DAX increased 84.68 points or 0.76% to 11,184.98 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 11.97 points or 0.18% to 6,719.85.