Benchmarks make a flat but positive start

After falling more than half a percent in last session, Indian equity markets have made a flat but positive start, trading slightly in green on buying activities by market-participants at lower levels. The sentiment got a boost with the World Bank retaining its India's growth forecast at 7.5 percent in 2015-16, followed by a further acceleration to 7.8 percent in 2016-17 and 7.9 percent in 2017-18, saying it will continue to grow. Further, some support also came on reports that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 174.12 crore yesterday, 29 October 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Besides, Rupee opened higher against the dollar on Friday and was trading at 65.24, up 7 paise at the Interbank Foreign Exchange, on increased selling of the American currency by exporters that too kept supporting the sentiment. However, upside remained capped on account of weak global cues. 

In the scrip specific development, Kothari Products surged 13%, extending its previous day’s 6% gain on the NSE, after the company announced that the board of directors will meet on November 10, to consider issue of bonus shares.

On the global front, the US markets ended lower as the market digested the potential for an interest rate hike in December, as well as some disappointing tech earnings reports and a possible massive pharmaceutical merger. The Asian markets were trading mostly in red following the weak cues overnight from Wall Street.

Closer home traders were seen piling up position in Healthcare, Realty, Bankex, Power and PSU, while selling was witnessed in FMCG, IT, TECK, Auto and Consumer Durables. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 989: 565 while 89 scrips remained unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26841.84, up by 3.70 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 26773.04 and 26892.45. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.52%, while Small cap index up by 0.21%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.93%,  Realty up by 0.92%, Bankex up by 0.66%, Power up by 0.54% and PSU up by 0.21%, while FMCG down by 0.57%, IT down by 0.47%, TECK down by 0.38%, Auto down by 0.24% and Consumer Durables down by 0.20% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 3.08%, NTPC up by 1.76%, ICICI Bank up by 0.96%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 0.89% and Reliance Industries up by 0.74%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.71%, ONGC down by 1.83%, Tata Motors down by 1.01%, Infosys down by 0.94% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.90% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a move that could help boost dollar inflows into the country, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has notified that non-resident Indians (NRIs) can opt to invest in the National Pension System (NPS). In its notification the central bank has said that the subscription amounts shall be paid by NRIs either by inward remittance through normal banking channels or out of funds held in their NRE/FCNR/NRO account. There shall be no restriction on repatriation of the annuity or accumulated savings.RBI said that with a view to enabling NRIs’ access to old age income security, it has now been decided, in consultation with the Government of India, to enable NPS as an investment option for NRIs under FEMA (foreign exchange management act) 1999.

NRIs can now subscribe to the pension scheme, which is governed and administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority. Minimum annual subscription under NPS is Rs 6,000, while allocation to equities is capped at 50% of investment. NPS investments mature when the investor turns 60. If the corpus is less than Rs 2 lakh, the entire sum can be withdrawn. If it is more, the subscriber must put at least 40% of the corpus into an annuity to get a monthly pension. However, there is no ceiling on the investment amount.

NPS is an easily accessible, low cost, tax-efficient, flexible and portable retirement savings account. Under the NPS, the individual contributes to his retirement account. The funds contributed by the Subscribers are invested by the PFRDA registered Pension Fund Managers (PFMs) as per the investment guidelines prescribed by PFRDA. The investment guidelines are framed in such a manner that the portfolio is adequately diversified across financial securities so that there is minimal impact on the returns on subscribers contributions even if there is a market downturn, by ensuring a judicious mix of investment instruments like Government securities, corporate bonds and equities. At present, there are 9.6 million NPS subscribers with the total assets under management at almost Rs.88,000 crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8118.95, up by 7.20 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 8092.40 and 8125.05. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.95%, Yes Bank up by 1.88%, NTPC up by 1.56%, Cairn India up by 1.56% and ICICI Bank up by 1.12%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 3.03%, ONGC down by 1.32%, Infosys down by 1.06%, ITC down by 1.00% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.95% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Nikkei 225 decreased 121.1 points or 0.64% to 18,814.61, Hang Seng decreased 103.89 points or 0.46% to 22,716.05, Jakarta Composite decreased 26.79 points or 0.6% to 4,445.23 and Taiwan Weighted decreased 4.54 points or 0.05% to 8,566.54.

On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 0.12 points or 0.01% to 2,034.28, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.17 points or 0.01% to 1,667.15 and Shanghai Composite increased 4.1 points or 0.12% to 3,391.41.