Benchmarks continue to trade in green in late morning session

After getting a gap-up start, benchmark equity indices continued to trade in fine fettle in late morning deals on sustained buying by foreign funds and retail investors, tracking a firming trend at other Asian markets after the Greece’s parliament approved the austerity plan. Investor sentiments remained bullish on hopes that easing crude oil prices would lower inflation, boosting the prospects of an interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India in August. However, gains remained capped with the report that Monsoon slowed down to 33 percent below normal in July. It is expects to pick up only post July 23. Weak monsoon has hurt sowing in part of Gujarat, Maharasthra and northern part of Karnataka.  On the trade front, merchandise exports declined for the 7th straight month in June to $22.29 billion, down 15.82% from the $26.48 billion recorded in same month last year.  However, this rate of decline was lower than that of May when exports plunged 20%.

On global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green after Greek lawmakers passed a bailout agreement that keeps the country in the euro for now as the European Central Bank weighs whether to pump more money into Greece. However, some investors turned cautious after Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen told the House Financial Services Committee that she expects to raise interest rates at some point this year. Back home, Indian rupee depreciated by 12 paise to 63.53 against the US dollar in early trade due to increased demand for the American currency from importers.

Back on street, stocks from Oil & Gas, Banking and PSU counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from information technology (IT) counters was adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, Shares of Hatsun Agro Product have surged after reporting a nearly four-fold jump in net profit at Rs 28.69 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2015. On the other hand, shares of South Indian Bank have dipped after the bank reported a sharp 48% year-on-year (y-o-y) decline in standalone net profit at Rs 65 crore for the quarter ended June 2015. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2280 stocks traded, 1368 stocks advanced, while 809 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28351.83, up by 153.54 points or 0.54% after trading in a range of 28245.81 and 28373.68. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.77%, while Small cap index up by 0.64%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.02%, Bankex up by 0.96%, PSU up by 0.76%, Consumer Durables up by 0.70% and Power up by 0.66%, while IT down by 0.07% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 2.81%, HDFC up by 1.50%, Reliance Industries up by 1.37%, HDFC Bank up by 1.25% and Coal India up by 0.97%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 1.10%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.00%, Wipro down by 0.58%, TCS down by 0.28% and Infosys down by 0.26% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, falling international crude prices have led the oil marketing companies (OMCs) to go for the second consecutive reduction in petrol and diesel prices this month. The price of petrol was cut by Rs 2 per litre and that of diesel too by Rs 2 per litre (excluding State levies). The new rates announced by the oil marketing companies are effective from midnight of 15th July / 16th July, 2015.

Price of petrol was last cut on July 1 by 31 paise per litre and diesel by 71 paise a litre. The July 1 reduction in petrol prices came on back of three successive increases since May. In case of diesel, the July 1 cut was the second reduction in rates since June.

The oil companies have said that since last price change, there has been a decrease in international prices of both Petrol & Diesel. INR-USD exchange rate has also appreciated during this period. Combined impacts of both these factors warrant the said downward revisions.

However, petrol would actually become costlier in the National capital due to the increase in the VAT rate, while the decrease in diesel prices would be lower in Delhi. The VAT rate on petrol has been increased from 20% to 25% and on diesel from 12.5% to 16.6% in National capital, thereby resulting increase in the price of petrol by Rs 2.78 per litre (approx.) and in the price of diesel Rs 1.83 per litre. Petrol in Delhi will cost Rs 66.90 per litre from tomorrow instead of Rs 66.62 at present. A litre of diesel will cost Rs 49.72 per litre as against Rs 50.22 earlier.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8569.10, up by 45.30 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 8542.90 and 8575.55. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 2.79%, BPCL up by 1.94%, HDFC up by 1.63%, Reliance Industries up by 1.37% and HDFC Bank up by 1.33%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 1.17%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.01%, NMDC down by 0.78%, Ambuja Cement down by 0.59% and Wipro down by 0.55% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index was up by 0.55%, Straits Times up by 0.33%, Hang Seng up by 0.06%, Shanghai Composite up by 1.1% and Nikkei 225 increased up by 0.48%. On flip side, Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.28% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.03%.