Benchmarks continue firm trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets added gains in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. Global stocks were trading firm as there is a wave of optimism that Greece and its international creditors will strike a last-minute deal that will see Athens avert default. The sentiments also got some support after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stated that on the basis of policy changes and along with a good monsoon the path to 10 percent growth in Indian economy is not impossible. Traders were seen piling position in Realty, Bankex and Infra stocks. In scrip specific development, Indiabulls Real Estate was trading firm on reports that promoter Sameer Gehlaut is going to invest Rs 538 crore in the company and further hike promoter stake by 10 percent to 37 percent.

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 8,350 and 27,700 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1635:907 while 95 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27714.43, up by 398.26 points or 1.46% after trading in a range of 27417.03 and 27738.49. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.28%, while Small cap index up by 1.36%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 5.05%, Bankex up by 2.87%, INFRA up by 1.79%, Power up by 1.62% and Metal up by 1.35%

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 3.86%, ICICI Bank up by 3.22%, BHEL up by 2.46%, HDFC up by 2.37% and Tata Motors up by 2.33%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.04%, Wipro down by 0.59%, Reliance Industries down by 0.31%, ONGC down by 0.27% and Lupin down by 0.19% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the signs of recovery in the equity markets are likely to be complemented by reports that the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into India surged 112% in April to $3.6 billion from $1.7 billion in the year-ago period and was up 71% over the inflows in the previous month. In absolute terms, April saw the second highest FDI inflows in the last one-and-a -half years, with only January 2015 posting a higher figure of $4.4 billion, 109% more than that in January 2014.

Singapore was the top investing country in April, followed by Mauritius, United States, the Netherlands and Germany, all of which together accounted for about 85% of the total inflows. Mumbai, Bengaluru, New Delhi, Chennai and Ahmedabad were the top five cities, accounting for about 90% of total inflows.

Sector wise, the automobile industry was the second highest FDI attractor after the computer software and hardware industry, with 18% increase to $0.65 billion. Construction and infrastructure sector saw 7% growth in FDI at $0.2 billion during the month. Manufacturing sector posted a 142% growth to $1.06 billion in FDI, while the inflows in the nonmanufacturing sector went up 93% to $2.05 billion.

Since the beginning of 2015, FDI has grown 43%, with inflows of about $13 billion. In 2014-15 India saw 27% growth in FDI inflows over the previous year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8351.05, up by 126.10 points or 1.53% after trading in a range of 8257.40 and 8358.25. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 4.06%, Yes Bank up by 3.87%, Bank of Baroda up by 3.31%, PNB up by 3.21% and ICICI Bank up by 3.19%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.12%, Wipro down by 0.41%, Idea Cellular down by 0.37%, ONGC down by 0.34% and Reliance Industries down by 0.33% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 8.2 points or 0.4% to 2,055.16, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 11.61 points or 0.67% to 1,733.38, Straits Times increased 22.3 points or 0.68% to 3,323.26, Taiwan Weighted increased 123.4 points or 1.34% to 9,341.77, Nikkei 225 increased 253.95 points or 1.26% to 20,428.19 and Hang Seng increased 320.32 points or 1.2% to 27,080.85.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite decreased 25.42 points or 0.51% to 4,959.58. China Stock exchange is closed on account of 'Dragon Boat Festival' holiday.

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 80.57 points or 1.2% to 6,791.02, France’s CAC increased 153.63 points or 3.19% to 4,969.00 and Germany’s DAX increased 355.65 points or 3.22% to 11,395.75.