Markets continue to trade in high spirit; Nifty above 8150 mark

Indian markets despite coming off their day’s high were managing to remain considerably higher in the early noon session, supported by across the board buying by participants, tracking a rally in other Asian markets. The sentiment remained upbeat with the Central Board of Excise and Customs’ statement that GST can be implemented anytime during a year and not only at the beginning of a financial year. GST, once rolled out, will subsume various levies like excise, service tax, sales tax, octroi, etc. Appreciation in the rupee too supported sentiment. The rupee strengthened by 27 paise to 64.78 against the dollar in early trade today on fresh selling of the US currency by exporters and banks amid firm domestic equity markets.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after details from the U.S. central bank’s latest meeting cast further doubt on the prospect of higher interest rates this year. Back home, at present, Sensex and Nifty were trading above the crucial 27,000 and 8,150 levels respectively. In scrip specific development, share of Transport Corporation of India was trading up by over 11.43%, 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. 8K Miles Software Services was trading up by 3.37%  after the company reported more-than-double consolidated net profit at Rs 8.74 crore for the second quarter ended September 2015 on back of strong operational income.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27091.13, up by 245.32 points or 0.91% after trading in a range of 26973.58 and 27200.44. 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 0.31%, while Small cap index gained 0.52%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.43%, Bankex up by 1.07%, Capital Goods up by 1.07%, Auto up by 0.80%, Consumer Durables up by 0.78%, while there were no losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 8.94%, Hindalco up by 3.29%, Tata Steel up by 2.91%, ICICI Bank up by 2.80% and ONGC up by 2.08%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.24%, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 0.70%, TCS down by 0.57%, Wipro down by 0.47% and BHEL down by 0.27% were the top losers.

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 8195.20, up by 65.85 points or 0.81% after trading in a range of 8182.95 and 8232.20. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 9.53% and Hindalco up by 3.10% and Tata Steel up by 3.03% and ICICI Bank up by 2.82% and ONGC up by 2.10%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.64%, Coal India down by 1.20%, TCS down by 0.79%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.75% and BPCL down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 13.69 points or 0.68% to 2,019.53, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 17.53 points or 1.04% to 1,709.73, Shanghai Composite increased 31.93 points or 1.02% to 3,175.29, Straits Times increased 55.55 points or 1.88% to 3,002.58, Jakarta Composite increased 113.53 points or 2.53% to 4,604.96, Nikkei 225 increased 275.89 points or 1.52% to 18,417.06 and Hang Seng increased 326.55 points or 1.46% to 22,681.46, while Taiwan Weighted decreased 49.27 points or 0.58% to 8,445.96.