Benchmarks trade in fine fettle; Nifty above 8350 level

Buoyed by positive global cues, Indian equity benchmarks made a gap up opening and are trading in fine fettle with the gains of around half a percent. Sentiment turned positive after IMF reported that India will be the world’s fastest growing economy for the second consecutive year in 2016 at 7.5 percent. Investors’ sentiment also got some support with Finance Ministry statement that the negotiations on the double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) between India and Mauritius are in advanced stage and the pact would be revised soon. Meanwhile, the session was proving jubilant for broader indices, which were trading with gains in the range of 0.60-0.75%. Gains of market remained capped on reports that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 254.10 crore on Thursday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Further, investors are likely to remain cautious ahead of the announcement of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data later in the day. 

In scrip specific development, KEC International was trading higher after the company secured new orders worth Rs 622 crore in its transmission & distribution, and cables business. Monnet Ispat & Energy was locked at the upper circuit after the company signed a memorandum of understanding with JSW Energy to sell the controlling stake in its subsidiary.

On the global front, the US markets ended mostly higher, giving back more than half of opening gains as investors remained cautious on China and Greece. Asian markets were trading mostly in green as China's Shanghai index rebounded by another 5.5% to stay on course for a second consecutive session of gains.

Back home traders are seen piling position in Metal, Capital Goods, Banking and PSU Healthcare, while selling was witnessed in FMCG. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1290: 444 while 67 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27693.61, up by 119.95 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 27650.83 and 27729.46. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.63%, while Small cap index surged by 0.73%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.03%, Capital Goods up by 0.81%, Bankex up by 0.74%, Healthcare up by 0.67% and PSU up by 0.64%, while FMCG down by 0.46% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 2.16%, ICICI Bank up by 1.80%, BHEL up by 1.66%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.55% and Coal India up by 1.55%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.22%, GAIL India down by 1.22%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.99%, Lupin down by 0.79% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.68% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to improve ease of doing business for exporters and importers, the Commerce Ministry has launched the facility for online payment of application fees via credit or debit cards and other electronic fund transfers. This facility will help in exporters and importers in terms of facilitating the country's trade and reducing their transactions cost.

Through this facility, applicants can now pay fees online to Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) via their credit or debit cards or through net banking 24x7. Additionally, this facility will too make the field offices of DGFT paperless to a large extent and enable them to function in a 24x7 environment, while saving extra expenditure on storage space.  Also, it will ensure transfer of the fee amount into government account on T+1 working day, avoiding undue delay in deposit of bank drafts.

DGFT has signed an agreement with the Central Bank of India, which will provide payment gateway services to the online portal of DGFT to enable applicants, exporters, importers to pay their application fees by credit or debit cards or through net banking.  The Central Bank of India will provide e-challans, banks scrolls, transaction IDs for all successful transactions; refund amount to the applicant within 3 days and in case of failed transactions. Apart from central back, several public and private sector banks, which are providing these facilities such as Allahabad bank, Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, Punjab National Bank, State bank of India etc.

The government had already taken a number of steps in last one year to improve ease of doing business in the country that includes having a timeline for clearance of applications and de-licensing the manufacturing of many defence products, Process of applying for Industrial License (IL) and Industrial Entrepreneur Memorandum (IEM) has been made online and this service is now available to entrepreneurs on 24x7 bases at the eBiz website, etc.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8365.15, up by 36.60 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 8349.50 and 8376.35. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 1.98%, Sun Pharma up by 1.79%, BPCL up by 1.72%, Bank Of Baroda up by 1.70% and BHEL up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.33%, Idea Cellular down by 1.33%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.19%, GAIL India down by 1.01% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 0.84 points or 0.04% to 2,028.65, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 13.27 points or 0.78% to 1,714.81, Straits Times increased 14.98 points or 0.46% to 3,282.38, Jakarta Composite increased 34.96 points or 0.72% to 4,873.25, Nikkei 225 increased 61.85 points or 0.31% to 19,917.35, Shanghai Composite increased 191.56 points or 5.16% to 3,900.89 and Hang Seng increased 358.89 points or 1.47% to 24,751.68.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted declined by 61.98 points or 0.69% to 8,914.13.