Benchmarks continue firm trade; Nifty holds 8,450 mark

Indian equity markets continued their firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments got some support with RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s statement that the Indian economy was in a recovery phase and the country’s exposure to Greece is limited and there will be little impact of the fallout. Traders were seen piling position in Consumer Durables, Capital Goods and Bankex stocks while selling was witnessed in Metal, Realty and Auto sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) was trading firm on media reports that the government is planning to delist the stock ahead of its merger with state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL). DB Realty was trading in green after its subsidiary started development of residential project near Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mixed, while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,450 and 28,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1594:1259 while 185 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28077.28, up by 131.48 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 27897.45 and 28135.43. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green and red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.01%, while Small cap index up by 0.13%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.70%, Capital Goods up by 0.61%, Bankex up by 0.50%, FMCG up by 0.49% and Power up by 0.29% while, Metal down by 1.26%, Realty down by 0.47%, Auto down by 0.22%, INFRA down by 0.12% and Oil & Gas down by 0.12% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 2.26%, BHEL up by 1.74%, Lupin up by 1.73%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.49% and HDFC Bank up by 1.42%.

On the flip side, Vedanta down by 1.32%, Coal India down by 1.19%, Tata Steel down by 1.03%, Tata Motors down by 0.85% and Wipro down by 0.68% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, government will be spending Rs 50,000 crore in next 5 years (2015-16 to 2019-20) under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY), in order to improve the farm productivity. This decision was taken in a meeting headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi  with Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). This programme will be supervised by Inter-Ministerial National Steering Committee (NSC) under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister.

At present, about 142 million hectares are used for cultivation out of which only 45 per cent farm land is under irrigation. The PMKSY is a scheme where Central Government has planned to provide irrigation to the country’s agricultural land. The main objective is to expand cultivable area under assured irrigation, to improve on farm water efficiency in order to reduce water wastage and  to increase the  adoption of precision-irrigation and other water-saving technologies. This scheme is aimed to enhancing recharge of aquifers and introducing sustainable water conservation practices by exploring feasibility of re-using treated municipal water for peri-urban agriculture and attracting greater private investment in precision irrigation.

The funds will be given to States with 75% as grant by Central Government and the remaining 25% being borne by State Government. The funding pattern will be 90:10 for north-eastern region and hilly states. Further it was said that the allocation for current fiscal is Rs 5,300 crore. This spending is expected to bring 6 lakh hectares under irrigation and 5 lakh hectares will benefit from drip irrigation, apart from this 1,300 watershed projects is processed for completion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8478.65, up by 33.75 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 8424.15 and 8497.75. There were 30 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC up by 2.22%, BHEL up by 1.86%, Lupin up by 1.74%, Asian Paints up by 1.64% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.61%.

On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.64%, Cairn India down by 1.26%, Coal India down by 1.24%, Vedanta down by 1.12% and Tata Steel down by 0.97% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading on a mixed note; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.23 points or 0.01% to 1,734.11, Straits Times increased 14.42 points or 0.43% to 3,342.26, Nikkei 225 increased 17.29 points or 0.08% to 20,539.79 and Jakarta Composite increased 31.84 points or 0.64% to 4,976.63.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite decreased 225.85 points or 5.77% to 3,686.92, Hang Seng decreased 218.21 points or 0.83% to 26,064.11, Taiwan Weighted decreased 21.01 points or 0.22% to 9,358.23 and KOSPI Index decreased 2.92 points or 0.14% to 2,104.41.

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 9.86 points or 0.15% to 6,620.61, France’s CAC decreased 7.86 points or 0.16% to 4,827.70 and Germany’s DAX decreased 0.25 points or 0% to 11,099.10.