Benchmarks continue to trade in green in late morning session

After getting a gap-up start, benchmark equity indices continue to trade in fine fettle in late morning deals on continued buying activities by both funds and retail investors. Sentiments remained up-beat with report that the government is likely to go for a fresh round of consultations on Goods and Service Tax with the Opposition parties after the Bihar elections. Parliamentary affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu has said that further discussions with the Opposition on passing the bill will be held during the Winter Session of Parliament. Appreciation in the rupee too supported the sentiment. The Indian rupee strengthened by 8 paise to 64.73 against the dollar in early trade on sustained selling of the US currency by exporters and banks. Some support also came in from reports that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 437 crore on October 16, 2015. However, investors remained cautious as Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said the government needed to put conditions in place for sustainable growth, without resorting to populist policies. Rajan also warned of the difficulties in achieving quick growth, noting India would not be able to expand at 9 percent levels overnight.

On the global front, Asian markets trading mostly in green as investors were slightly encouraged by better-than-expected gross domestic product (GDP) out of the world's second-biggest economy. China's economy expanded 6.9 percent on-year in the third quarter, compared with the prediction of 6.8 percent. However, a string of monthly indicators released alongside the GDP data hinted at lingering weakness in the economy. Adding to optimism are growing bets that the U.S. Federal Reserve would delay its first rate hike since 2006 to next year, encouraging investors to hunt for bargains in Asian equities.

Back on street, stocks from Oil & Gas, Realty and TECK counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Metal, Auto and Banking counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, shares of Reliance Industries have rallied after the company reported a better-than-expected 12.5% rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 6,720 crore for the quarter ended September on back of higher refining margin. Furthermore, Vedanta has surged after the company signed an early agreement to invest around Rs 8400 crore to expand and develop its mineral and mining base in Rajasthan.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2288 stocks traded, 1341 stocks advanced, while 829 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27291.80, up by 77.20 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 27246.79 and 27334.87. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.36%, while Small cap index up by 0.62%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.32%, Realty up by 1.14%, TECK up by 0.72%, IT up by 0.57% and FMCG up by 0.22%, while Metal down by 0.43%, Auto down by 0.40%, Bankex down by 0.35%, Capital Goods down by 0.32% and Power down by 0.20% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 4.69%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.26%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.72%, Infosys up by 1.62% and Cipla up by 1.07%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.12%, Tata Steel down by 1.33%, ONGC down by 1.08%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.79% and ICICI Bank down by 0.60% were the top losers

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has reviewed the expenditure made by his ministry during the April-September period of the current financial year. The Home Ministry has utilized Rs 4,042 crore or over 47 per cent of the plan expenditure during the same period. The total budget allocated for Home Minister under the plan expenditure was Rs 8,554 crore.

The Home Ministry's budget utilization under Plan head has increased from 17.73% in 2011-12 to 32.11% in 2014-15 and 47.25% in the current financial year, during the first six months of the respective financial years.

In the budget 2015-16, Home Ministry was allocated for the overall total Rs 62,124.52 crore, a modest 10.2 percent jump over the outlay in last fiscal, with special focus on safety of women, rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits and internal security. The Home Ministry was given Rs 56,372.45 crore in the general Budget 2014-15.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8252.80, up by 14.65 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 8239.20 and 8264.95. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 4.73%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.32%, Sun Pharma up by 1.75%, Infosys up by 1.73% and BPCL up by 1.21%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.20%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.47%, Tata Steel down by 1.38%, Bank of Baroda down by 1.38% and Asian Paints down by 1.24% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 0.12%, Shanghai Composite up by 0.3%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.23% and Jakarta Composite up by 0.74%. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 0.31%, Hang Seng down by 0.34% and KOSPI Index was down by 0.35%.