Benchmarks continue firm trade; Auto, IT lead

Indian equity markets continued their firm trade hovering near the highest point of the day in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments got some support after rating agency Moody’s stated that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may possibly cut interest rates in its next monetary policy review due next month despite retail inflation surging to an eight-month high in June.  Traders were seen piling position in Auto, IT and TECK stocks while selling was witnessed in Consumer Durables sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Adhunik Metaliks was locked at upper circuit limit after its wholly owned subsidiary was granted extension of lease for its three manganese ore mines. Zee Entertainment Enterprises was trading in green after the company announced good Q1 results.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green, while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,500 and 28,200 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1553:1145 while 129 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28202.45, up by 269.55 points or 0.96% after trading in a range of 27986.48 and 28218.37. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.17%, while Small cap index up by 0.53%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.32%, IT up by 1.18%, TECK up by 0.99%, Capital Goods up by 0.67% and INFRA up by 0.60%, while Consumer Durables down by 1.27% was the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.96%, Wipro up by 1.99%, HDFC up by 1.75%, TCS up by 1.62% and Tata Motors up by 1.56%.

On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 0.27%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.18% and GAIL India down by 0.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, admitting that the condition of farmers is a “matter of concern”, has said the Centre was planning to spend Rs 50,000 crore on the farming and irrigation sector and plans were also afoot to roll out an insurance scheme exclusively for the farming sector to compensate for crop loss. The finance minister while noting that the agriculture sector presents its own set of challenges with successive low rate of growth over the years, also admitted that 'We have been unable to ensure even a 4 per cent growth consistently in the field of agriculture.'

Jaitley further stated that with productivity levels reasonably low and 85 per cent farmers being small and marginal, the agriculture sector is afflicted by higher input costs, low level of irrigation, high indebtedness, absence of an effective insurance mechanism and adverse impacts of climate change.

Talking about insurance, Jaitley said that the present crop insurance schemes cover only the loans which a farmer has taken from banks and the condition of farmers is a matter of concern...”We are working on the next challenge wherein if farmer's crop gets damaged, he will automatically get insurance amount for the crop loss while sitting at his home. We are bringing an insurance scheme only for the farming sector.”

Earlier the Finance Minister had stated that Ashok Gulati, Infosys Chair Professor for Agriculture, ICRIER (Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations), had made a presentation to the government on a 'doable and effective' insurance programme, under which the farmer is able to at least recover the basic inputs in the event of uncertainty caused by more than one reason.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8528.90, up by 74.80 points or 0.88% after trading in a range of 8462.95 and 8531.40. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.86%, Wipro up by 2.23%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.23%, HDFC up by 1.79% and TCS up by 1.66%.

On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 1.17%, PNB down by 1.00%, Bank of Baroda down by 0.99%, HCL Tech down by 0.55% and BPCL down by 0.42% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.68 points or 0.16% to 1,723.78, Taiwan Weighted increased 12.44 points or 0.14% to 9,054.20, KOSPI Index increased 13.68 points or 0.66% to 2,072.91, Straits Times increased 17.59 points or 0.53% to 3,334.09 and Nikkei 225 increased 78 points or 0.38% to 20,463.33.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite decreased 118.78 points or 3.03% to 3,805.70, Hang Seng decreased 65.15 points or 0.26% to 25,055.76 and Jakarta Composite decreased 41.24 points or 0.84% to 4,860.57.

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 19.36 points or 0.29% to 6,734.39, Germany’s DAX decreased 13.1 points or 0.11% to 11,503.80 and France’s CAC decreased 12.1 points or 0.24% to 5,020.37.