Markets maintain the lead; Nifty trades near 8500 mark

Markets were continuing their gaining momentum, with benchmarks comfortably trading near their crucial psychological levels of 8500 (Nifty) and 28100 (Sensex) in the early noon session. Traders were getting encouragement with the Reserve Bank of India governor, Raghuram Rajan’s statement that the Indian economy was in a recovery phase and also that India’s exposure to Greece is limited and there will be little impact of the fallout. The boost to the markets was also coming from the surge in the rupee, which has hit a 2-month high against the dollar. There was across the board buying being witnessed and markets were trading firmly higher, though some consolidation may appear in the last leg of trade, as traders would square off their positions ahead of referendum in Greece, eyeing the results of the referendum vote on Sunday. On the sectoral front capital goods has taken the lead, followed by consumer durables, healthcare and FMCG, however some profit booking was being seen in metal and auto stocks.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28098.94, up by 153.14 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 27897.45 and 28135.43. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.13%, while Small cap index was higher by 0.41%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.07%, Consumer Durables up by 1.00%, FMCG up by 0.74%, Power up by 0.54%, Bankex up by 0.40%, while Metal down by 0.68%, Auto down by 0.40% and Realty down by 0.10% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 1.94%, Lupin up by 1.94%, BHEL up by 1.68%, Cipla up by 1.35% and HDFC Bank up by 1.18%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 0.96%, Coal India down by 0.74%, Wipro down by 0.68%, Hindalco down by 0.67% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the union cabinet has approved the first integrated national policy for developing skills and promoting entrepreneurship at a large scale with speed and quality. The government has also approved common norms for Skill Development Schemes being implemented by the Centre as well as an institutional framework for the National Skill Development Mission.

The National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015 has four thrust areas, addressing key obstacles to skilling, including low aspirational value, lack of integration with formal education, lack of focus on outcomes, low quality of training infrastructure and trainers.

The policy seeks to align supply and demand for skills by bridging existing skill gaps, promoting industry engagement, operationalising a quality assurance framework, leverage technology and promoting greater opportunities for apprenticeship training. In the entrepreneurship domain, the policy seeks to educate and equip potential entrepreneurs, both within and outside the formal education system. It also seeks to connect entrepreneurs to mentors, incubators and credit markets, foster innovation and entrepreneurial culture, improve ease of doing business and promote a focus on social entrepreneurship.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the policy aims to align supply with demand, bridging existing skill gaps, promoting industry engagement, operationalise a quality assurance framework, leveraging technology and promoting apprenticeship to tackle the identified issues.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8483.70, up by 38.80 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 8424.15 and 8497.75. There were 33 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC up by 1.93%, Lupin up by 1.81%, BHEL up by 1.62%, Asian Paints up by 1.53% and Cipla up by 1.52%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.11%, Tata Motors down by 0.94%, Coal India down by 0.80%, Wipro down by 0.75% and Bosch down by 0.74% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red barring, Straits Times which was up by 12.68 points or 0.38% to 3,340.52, Jakarta Composite higher by 12.71 points or 0.26% to 4,957.49 and Nikkei 225 adding 17.29 points or 0.08% to 20,539.79.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite slumped by 156.91 points or 4.01% to 3,755.86, Hang Seng lost 53.78 points or 0.2% to 26,228.54, Taiwan Weighted declined by 21.01 points or 0.22% to 9,358.23, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI down by 4 points or 0.23% to 1,729.88 and KOSPI Index declining 2.92 points or 0.14% to 2,104.41.