Benchmarks extend gains; trade near intra-day high levels

Indian equity benchmarks extended early gains to continue firm trade in late morning session, hovering near intra-day high levels as investors indulged in covering their short positions in view of the monthly expiry in the derivatives segment amid positive global cues. There was no sign of profit taking from any corner yet and buying was sustaining even at higher levels. The S&P BSE Sensex reclaimed its crucial psychological level of 27700, while Nifty too surged past its important resistance level of 8400 and were trading firmly over it. Apart from blue chips, broader indices too equally participated in the rally with both mid cap and small cap indices trading up by over 0.90%. Sentiments got a boost after the Federal Reserve said the economy and job market continued to strengthen and left its key interest rate unchanged. Some support also came with a statement of World Bank official that India has the potential to become a multi-trillion dollar economy with a per capita income of about $40,000 by 2050 if it manages to grow at seven percent annually for the next 30-35 years.  Besides, the Cabinet has approved amendments to the Constitution Bill to launch the GST, incorporating some of the suggestions of the select panel of Rajya Sabha that should clear the way for the passage of this much awaited reform should Parliament function.

On global front, Asian stock markets were trading mostly in positive territory, after US stocks closed higher overnight in a positive reaction to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy statement. In addition, higher commodity prices too boosted resource stocks. As was widely expected, the US Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged. Back home, Indian rupee depreciated 5 paise to 63.96 paise against dollar in early trades, tracking cues from the US Federal Reserve's policy statement released overnight.

Back on street, buying was visible across the board, with realty, auto, FMCG and power taking the lead. Consumer durables was the only pack showing some weakness since early morning.  In scrip specific development, Shares of Navin Fluorine International have surged after the company's net profit more than doubled at Rs 18.15 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2015. Furthermore, NIIT has locked in upper circuit of 10% at Rs 80.95 on the BSE, after the company posted a consolidated net profit at Rs 15 crore in the April-June quarter against Rs 60 lakh in the same quarter a year ago.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2294 stocks traded, 1611 stocks advanced, while 624 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27787.29, up by 223.86 points or 0.81% after trading in a range of 27649.97 and 27796.12. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.12%, while Small cap index up by 0.98%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.65%, Auto up by 1.19%, FMCG up by 0.95%, Power up by 0.91% and Infrastructure up by 0.90%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.03% was the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 3.55%, HDFC up by 3.00%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.17%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.97% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.87%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.53%, Coal India down by 0.33%, TCS down by 0.25%, Hindalco down by 0.23% and GAIL India down by 0.10% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has cleared seven foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals worth Rs 981 crore, belonging to different sectors like telecom, broadcasting, real estate and pharma etc. These proposals have been approved following recommendations by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). The proposal related to telecom and broadcasting sector, entails investment worth Rs 963 crore.

The proposals which were approved include ones by Hathway Cable and Data Com, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Celon Laboratories, Keppel Puravankara Development, Lalea Trading, Cheetah Communications and Destimoney Enterprises.

In its July 3 meeting, the FIPB had cleared application of Kotak Mahindra Bank. The bank had sought approval for increasing the aggregate foreign investment to 55% following a merger between ING Vyasa Bank and Kotak Bank. However, The FIPB had deferred the decision on six FDI proposals including that of Den Networks, Reliance Globalcom (Bemuda), Sistema Shyam Teleservices and Indian Rotocraft.

Further, the FIPB headed by Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi will meet again to decide on over 40 investment proposals. The government has recently approved 10 foreign direct investment proposals entailing capital inflows of Rs 1,675.15 crore into the country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8438.90, up by 63.85 points or 0.76% after trading in a range of 8408.90 and 8440.10. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 3.23%, HDFC up by 2.93%, HCL Tech. up by 2.02%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.90% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.78%. On the flip side, NMDC down by 1.91%, Sun Pharma down by 1.50%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.57%, Hindalco down by 0.38% and ACC down by 0.36% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 0.34%, Jakarta Composite up by 0.22%, Shanghai Composite up by 0.01%, Taiwan Weighted up by 1.17% and Nikkei 225 increased up by 1.08%. On the flip side, Straits Times was down by 0.53%, KOSPI Index down by 0.69% and Hang Seng was down by 0.07%.