Benchmarks continue firm trade in late morning session

Indian markets were maintaining their upmove in the late morning trade and both the benchmarks were up by over 0.40 percent, holding their psychological levels of 28050 (Sensex) and 8450 (Nifty). Apart from blue chips, broader indices too equally participated in the gain with both mid cap and small cap indices trading up by over 0.30%. The sentiments got a boost with Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu statement that India's economy is back on track and the country's growth rate is likely to cross eight per cent in the coming years. Some support also came in from reports that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 575.32 crore on July 02, 2015.  However, a weak trend at other Asian markets due to uncertainties surrounding the Greece referendum limited the gains in the domestic bourses.

On global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as China's stocks plunged and growing caution before Greece's week-end referendum prompted investors to cut risky bets. Overnight, the US stocks extended losses on Thursday after the International Monetary Fund warned Greece may need a large debt write-off, and muted U.S. jobs data dampened the economic outlook. Back home, Continuing its winning run for the fourth straight day, Indian rupee strengthened by 11 paise to 63.40 against the US dollar on sustained selling of the American currency by exporters.

Back on street, stocks from Consumer Durables, Capital Goods and FMCG counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Metal and Auto counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, Shares of D B Realty have surged after the company announced beginning of construction for residential project in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), Mumbai. Furthermore, Lupin rose after the company acquired 100% equity in Russian pharmaceutical company ZAO ‘Biocom’, making its foray into the rapidly growing Russian pharmaceutical market.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2287 stocks traded, 1442 stocks advanced, while 748 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28095.61, up by 149.81 points or 0.54% after trading in a range of 27897.45 and 28135.43. 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 0.34%, while Small cap index up by 0.65%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.94%, Capital Goods up by 0.82%, FMCG up by 0.76%, Power up by 0.72% and Infrastructure up by 0.62%, while Metal down by 0.39% and Auto down by 0.06% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 1.98%, Lupin up by 1.93%, BHEL up by 1.66%, Cipla up by 1.48% and HDFC Bank up by 1.27%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 0.99%, Tata Motors down by 0.87%, Wipro down by 0.78%, Coal India down by 0.64% and Reliance Industries down by 0.09% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan has expressed his confidence for the economic recovery and said that capital investments are picking up but a stronger growth would require more reforms and clearing bottlenecks for stalled projects. Rajan said that “I would say economy is picking up. We see some signs of capital investment picking up. There is a continuing need, which the government is trying to address, of putting some of the stalled projects back on track.”

Talking further about the stalled projects he said that economic growth will help put projects back on track that are on difficulty. “We are doing everything we can as we work with banks to put it back on track.” He added that we see some signs of capital investment picking up. There is a continuing need, which the government is trying to address, of putting some of the stalled projects back on track.

Rajan said that exports are an area of relative weakness. But they have been weak across the various Asian economies, to the exception of perhaps of China. The weak state of global economy is a big factor there. He added that we need to continue to do the spade work to create sustainable growth and have discussed various plans that the RBI has over the coming years to do that.

The RBI governor talking about the Greece crisis said that India's exposure to Greece was very-very limited. The direct exposure is very limited for India. But there is some indirect exposure like how the Euro would react to the Greece situation.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8484.65, up by 39.75 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 8424.15 and 8497.75. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Lupin up by 1.86%, HDFC up by 1.83%, BHEL up by 1.58%, Asian Paints up by 1.56% and Cipla up by 1.50%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.17%, Wipro down by 1.08%, Hindalco down by 0.81%, Tata Motors down by 0.76% and Idea Cellular down by 0.68% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Shanghai Composite was down by 2.98%, Nikkei 225 down by 0.06%, Hang Seng down by 0.07%, Taiwan Weighted down by 0.37%, KOSPI Index down by 0.2% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI down by 0.23%. On the flip side, Straits Times was up by 0.33% and Jakarta Composite was up by 0.26%.