Benchmarks continue to trade in green in late morning session

After getting a gap-up start, Indian equities trimmed gains but continued to trade in green in the late morning session on the back of continued buying by participants amid a firming trend in global markets as prospects of an interest rate hike by the Fed by the end of this year seems to wane on the back of sluggish US jobs data. Besides, stability in the commodity market and rise in the oil prices also boosted the rally in the global markets. Sentiments got a boost with the report that the PE investments in the first nine months of 2015 have reached $13 billion from 504 deals, and are expected to cross previous annual milestone of $14.7 billion hit in 2007. Some support also came with statement of finance minister Arun Jaitley that India is going through a 'revolutions of raising aspirations' and a growth of 6% to 8% was no longer enough. However, gains remained capped on the report that India's pivotal services industry lost some momentum in September as demand weakened despite firms cutting prices for the first time this year. The Nikkei/Markit Services Purchasing Managers' Index eased to 51.3 in September from August's 51.8 but marked its third straight month above the 50-level that separates growth from contraction.

On the global front, markets across Asia rallied in early trade, with the Japanese market leading the gains on bets that its central bank may further loosen monetary policy at its meeting this week. Further, US stocks gained ground in Wall Street overnight, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 share averages both advancing 1.8% on bets the Federal Reserve will hold off on raising interest rates until 2016.  Back home, Indian rupee strengthened by four paise to 65.25 against the dollar in early trade on sustained selling of the US currency by exporters and banks amid firm equity markets.

Back on street, stocks from Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas and Metal counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from IT, TECK and Bankex counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, Shares of drug maker Sun Pharma have surged after Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals, its US subsidiary, and its partners Cipher Pharmaceuticals Inc (Cipher) and Galephar Pharmaceutical Research, Inc. (Galephar) settled a patent litigation with Actavis over the generic version of Absorica, a drug used to treat acne Absorica (isotretinoin capsules).  Furthermore, Shares of J Kumar Infraprojects and ITD Cementation India have rallied on reports that these companies have emerged L1 bidders for Mumbai Metro rail blocks.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2167 stocks traded, 1342 stocks advanced, while 733 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26875.48, up by 89.93 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 26804.04 and 27010.27. 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 0.46%, while Small cap index up by 0.72%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 2.18%, Oil & Gas up by 1.47%, Metal up by 1.46%, Realty up by 1.11% and FMCG up by 0.93%, while IT down by 0.45%, TECK down by 0.19% and Bankex down by 0.15% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 3.06%, Coal India up by 2.91%, GAIL India up by 2.51%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.43% and Cipla up by 2.38%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 1.59%, Infosys down by 1.36%, HDFC down by 1.04%, HDFC Bank down by 0.94% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.66% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has said that the total revenue collection will fall short by Rs 50,000 crore (5-7 per cent) in the current financial year mainly because of subdued growth in direct taxes. Though it has reiterated that despite shortfall in direct tax collection the fiscal deficit will still remain within the budgeted target.

In the current financial year the total tax revenues are likely to be around Rs 14 lakh crore against the budget estimate of Rs 14.5 lakh crore. The current buoyancy in indirect taxes, growing at 37 per cent in aggregate so far this fiscal will help meet the gap and help achieve the overall tax revenue collection target of Rs. 14.5 lakh crore. The government had set an ambitious 16.5-per cent growth target for revenue collection during this current fiscal.

Finance Secretary Ratan Watal said that 'Our macro-fundamentals remain strong. We are now better placed to handle unforeseen external shocks and to put India firmly on the path of economic recovery and inclusive prosperity”. He further stated that the twin deficits-fiscal and current account-have been reduced, adding that the government is committed to achieving this year's fiscal deficit target as well as the fiscal glide path laid out in the Budget.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8139.85, up by 20.55 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 8113.30 and 8180.95. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 3.17%, Cipla up by 2.91%, Coal India up by 2.84%, Vedanta up by 2.66% and Idea Cellular up by 2.60%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 1.93%, Bank of Baroda down by 1.48%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.47%, HDFC Bank down by 1.30% and ACC down by 1.18% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green, KOSPI Index was up by 0.55%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI up by 0.87%, Straits Times up by 1.09%, Hang Seng up by 0.12%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.65%, Jakarta Composite up by 2.66% and Nikkei 225 up by 1.45%.