Benchmarks extend gains in late morning session

Extending their early gains, Indian equity markets continued to trade on a firm note following strength in the global peers after release of the minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting indicated that the imminent rate hike may not happen soon in the wake of a weak global economic outlook. On the domestic front, Sentiments remained up-beat with Central Board of Excise and Customs statement that GST can be implemented anytime during a year and not only the beginning of a financial year. GST, once rolled out, will subsume various levies like excise, service tax, sales tax, octroi, etc. Besides, some support also came with the report that International financial bodies including the IMF, World Bank, and top US federal bodies like the Federal Reserve are 'highly impressed' by India's growth at a time when emerging economies are slowing down. At present, Sensex and Nifty were trading above the crucial 27,150 and 8,200 levels respectively, with gains of over a percentage point. Moreover, broader indices also mirroring the same kind of enthusiasm were up with gains of over 0.60%.

On the global front, markets across Asia rallied after details from the U.S. central bank’s latest meeting cast further doubt on the prospect of higher interest rates this year. A sharp rise in the crude oil prices too boosted the sentiments. Further, US stocks closed higher after Federal Reserve’s latest meeting indicated that the Fed was unsettled by signs of a global economic slowdown and its impact on the US economy. Back home, Indian rupee strengthened by 20 paise to 64.86 against the dollar in early trade on fresh selling of the US currency by exporters and banks amid firm domestic equity market.

Back on street, all BSE sectoral indices were trading in the green. Among them, Metal index gained the most by 1.5 per cent, followed by Banking 1.25 per cent, Capital Goods 1.22 per cent and Consumer Durables 1.2 per cent. In scrip specific development, shares of 8K Miles Software Services have rallied after reporting more-than-doubled consolidated net profit at Rs 8.74 crore for the second quarter ended September 2015 (Q2) on back of strong operational income. Furthermore, Transport Corporation of India (TCI) has surged after the company announced the board approved the scheme of arrangement between the company and its wholly owned subsidiary, TCI Express with the aim to eventually list it on the bourses as a separate company.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2289 stocks traded, 1542 stocks advanced, while 656 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27153.64, up by 307.83 points or 1.15% after trading in a range of 26973.58 and 27200.44. There were 29 stocks advancing against 1 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.62%, while Small cap index up by 0.83%.

There were no losers on the BSE Sectoral front, however, prominent gainers on the BSE Sectoral front were Metal up by 1.58%, Bankex up by 1.25%, Capital Goods up by 1.22%, Consumer Durables up by 1.20% and IT up by 0.99%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 9.32%, ICICI Bank up by 3.07%, Hindalco up by 2.98%, Tata Steel up by 2.45% and ONGC up by 2.15%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 0.95% was the sole loser on the index.

Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia seeking investments from Latin American nations emphasized upon the need to strengthen the existing trade pacts to boost economic ties between the two regions and said that the widening of the trade pacts will help to facilitate business exchanges with each other.

She further stated that huge number of potential are there between these two regions where they need to expand their trade and investment ties. She said 'The potential is immense. If we are able to enlarge and strengthen the agreement then the potential for multiplying these gains mutually is really strong'. India is engaging with many countries in Latin America where there is more scope to have investment. Besides, she urged the Latin American countries to show their participation in 'Make in India' initiative which will help in providing conducive environment for investors.

The Commerce Secretary highlighted that vast opportunities exist in the infrastructure sector where more investments are being welcomed. Besides, there is huge scope in service sector as well. Inviting investments in mining, she said India allows 100 per cent FDI in the sector under automatic approval route. Further she said that India can cooperate in IT, education, telecommunication, yoga, tele medicine and healthcare services. Both the countries can increase trade and investments in areas such as energy, minerals, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, hydrocarbon and IT. The two-way trade between India and Latin America has increased to $45 billion in the previous fiscal from $3.76 billion over a decade back.

India has entered into a trade agreement with MERCOSUR bloc (comprising Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay) and Chile and where it is likely to widen the base of these pacts, adding value to it and really using it as a tool to be able to facilitate business exchanges with each other.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8215.15, up by 85.80 points or 1.06% after trading in a range of 8182.95 and 8232.20. There were 46 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 9.26%, ICICI Bank up by 3.14%, Hindalco up by 2.67%, Tata Steel up by 2.49% and ONGC up by 2.27%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.99%, Coal India down by 0.97%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.53% and Adani Ports &Special down by 0.12% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 1.04%, Shanghai Composite up by 0.7%, Straits Times up by 2.11%, Jakarta Composite up by 2.53%, Nikkei 225 up by 1.5% and Hang Seng up by 1.72%.