Benchmarks continue firm trade; Realty, IT lead

Indian equity markets continued their firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments were on up-beat note on reports that the Indian services industry bounced back to growth in July, although the rate of expansion was only marginal. Traders were seen piling position in Realty, IT and TECK sector stocks, while selling was witnessed in Bankex stocks. In scrip specific development, Adani Enterprises was trading firm on reports that it is in talks with Taiwan’s Foxconn for a possible joint venture worth $5 billion. Hectic buying activity was witnessed in sugar stocks like Bajaj Hindustan, Dalmia Bharat Sugar, Simbhaoli Sugar Mills, Dwarikesh Sugar, KM Sugar Mills and Sakthi Sugar as government has made it compulsory for sugar mills to export millions of tonnes of surplus supplies to support local prices.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green, while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,550 and 28,200 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1964:880 while 99 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28263.85, up by 191.92 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 28135.68 and 28315.71. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.02%, while Small cap index up by 1.43%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 4.13%, IT up by 1.78%, TECK up by 1.64%, FMCG up by 1.55% and Auto up by 1.46%, while Bankex down by 0.24% was the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.87%, Wipro up by 2.72%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.66%, Infosys up by 2.38% and Lupin up by 2.19%.

On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 0.97%, Coal India down by 0.88%, Axis Bank down by 0.35% and SBI down by 0.14% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the US has finally renewed its generalized system of preferences (GSP) programme, which earlier ended on July 31, 2013, under which the Indian exporters will get concessional duty treatment in the US market. The programme has been renewed retrospectively from August 1, 2013 and further will be present till December 31, 2017. India will get duty advantage in respect of 3500 product lines.

The domestic sectors which will get advantage from this duty benefits include certain textiles, gems & jewellery, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. However, products whose annual exports to the US have reached $170 million would not be able to avail the benefit of this programme.

Federation of Indian Export Organizations' (FIEO) President SC Ralhan said that this move will benefit Indian exports and will also increase competitiveness of Indian goods which are covered under GSP in US market. Further, this will help in increasing shipments to the US, which accounts for 13% of Indian exports. The decision of US is significant development at a time when India's exports continue to be in the negative zone.

Declining for the seventh month in a row, country's exports decreased by 15.82% to $22.28 billion in June as global slowdown took place. In the previous fiscal the two way trade between India and the US stood at $64.26 billion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8580.80, up by 63.90 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 8545.85 and 8591.85. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 2.98%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.84%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.71%, Infosys up by 2.61% and Wipro up by 2.52%.

On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 1.15%, Coal India down by 1.06%, ICICI Bank down by 0.81%, Bank of Baroda down by 0.58% and SBI down by 0.21% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 1.77 points or 0.09% to 2,029.76, Straits Times increased 2.57 points or 0.08% to 3,193.61, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 4.26 points or 0.25% to 1,727.99, Taiwan Weighted increased 31.41 points or 0.37% to 8,542.27, Jakarta Composite increased 57.37 points or 1.2% to 4,838.46, Nikkei 225 increased 93.7 points or 0.46% to 20,614.06 and Hang Seng increased 108.04 points or 0.44% to 24,514.16.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite decreased 61.97 points or 1.65% to 3,694.57.

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 12.71 points or 0.19% to 6,699.28, France’s CAC increased 40.83 points or 0.8% to 5,152.97 and Germany’s DAX increased 109.04 points or 0.95% to 11,565.11.