Benchmarks trade in fine fettle in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks are trading in fine fettle in early deals on Friday on sustained buying activities by market-participants, which lifted both Sensex and Nifty above crucial 28,050 and 8,450 levels respectively with gains of around half a percent. Meanwhile, broader indices also trading in line with larger counterparts are up with gains in the range of 0.45-0.70%. Sentiment on the street improved with RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s statement that capital investments are picking up but a stronger growth would require more reforms and clearing bottlenecks for stalled projects. Also, the government spending of Rs 50,000 crore over the next five years under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) too boosted the morale. Further, appreciation in Indian rupee against dollar was also supporting the markets. The Rupee gained 15 paise to hit one-month high of 63.36.

On the global front, the US markets ended lower after the International Monetary Fund warned Greece ahead of its Sunday referendum that it faces a huge financial hole. Asian markets were mostly trading in red following a weak lead from Wall Street ahead of Greece's weekend referendum.

Back home traders were seen piling position in Consumer Durables, Capital Goods, Healthcare and Power while, selling was witnessed in Metal. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1223: 450 while 67 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28080.92, up by 135.12 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 27897.45 and 28097.99. 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 0.47%, while Small cap index gained 0.68%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.04%, Capital Goods up by 0.96%, Healthcare up by 0.94% Power up by 0.83% and INFRA up by 0.66% while, Metal down by 0.04% was the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Lupin up by 2.21%, BHEL up by 1.78%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.22%, Cipla up by 1.21% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.07%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 0.48%, Tata Motors down by 0.31%, Wipro down by 0.30%, Hindalco down by 0.13% and Reliance Industries down by 0.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s external debt increased by 6.6% during the FY ending March 2015 to $475.8 billion, this rise took place  mainly  due to higher NRI deposits and commercial borrowing and also because  the appreciation of US dollar against Indian rupee and other major currencies. The ratio of GDP against the external debt increased up to 23.8% by the end of March 2015 from the level of 23.6 % the last year (March 2014).

The short term debt by the original maturity at $ 84.7 billion accounted 17.8% of the overall external debt at March end 2015 to that of 20.5 % at March 2014.Simultaneously, the country’s ratio of  short term debt on residual maturity accounted for  38.9%, as compared to the previous year of 39.6 %.

Similarly, the ratio for short term residual debt to foreign exchange reserves worked out to be 54.2% at end March 2015, from 57.4% last year. There was an increase in the outstanding debt of Government and non government sectors, their shares in the external debt were 18.9% and 81.1%, respectively at end-March 2015. The debt payments during 2014-15 were higher relative to the preceding year due to the higher repayments of External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) during the year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8479.75, up by 34.85 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 8424.15 and 8486.25. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Lupin up by 2.13%, Bosch up by 1.93%, BHEL up by 1.64%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.33% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.26%. On the flip side, HCL Tech. down by 0.91%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.48%, Coal India down by 0.45%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.38% and Wipro down by 0.36% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Shanghai Composite decreased 127.2 points or 3.25% to 3,785.57, Nikkei 225 decreased 68.25 points or 0.33% to 20,454.25, Hang Seng decreased 55.51 points or 0.21% to 26,226.81,Taiwan Weighted decreased 50.4 points or 0.54% to 9,328.84, KOSPI Index decreased 8.13 points or 0.39% to 2,099.20 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 4.18 points or 0.24% to 1,729.70.

On the flip side, Straits Times increased 8.48 points or 0.25% to 3,336.32, Jakarta Composite increased 9.18 points or 0.19% to 4,953.96.