Markets continue to trade in green in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks are trading in green in afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. Also, investors got some encouragement with Prime Minister Narendra Midi’s statement that FDI into India has increased by 40 percent since last year, showing the increasing global confidence in the country. Meanwhile, October WPI inflation came at 3.8 percent against September WPI of 4.54 percent.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red, after terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday last week sent worries across the world about their possible economic effects. Back home, both Sensex and Nifty were trading above the crucial 25,600 and 7,750 levels respectively, with gains of over 0.10 percent. In scrip specific development, share of GMR infrastructure was trading up by over 10.52% despite the company posting a sharp decline of 42% in the consolidated net loss for the September quarter. Talwalkars Better Value Fitness (TBVF) was trading higher after the company entered into an agreement to acquire strategic stake in Inshape Health and Fitnez (IHPL), a health and fitness center having operations in Chennai. The investment into IHPL will enable TBVF to further strengthen the presence in a fitness conscious Chennai Market.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25697.09, up by 86.56 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 25451.42 and 25697.09. There were 18 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.17%, while Small cap index gained 0.30%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.35%, Capital Goods up by 0.99%, Consumer Durables up by 0.60%, Realty up by 0.47% and Power up by 0.37%, while IT down by 0.87%, TECK down by 0.66%, Oil & Gas down by 0.03% and Auto down by 0.02% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.20%, Tata Steel up by 2.14%, ITC up by 1.71%, ICICI Bank up by 1.68% and SBI up by 1.58%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.49%, Coal India down by 1.48%, TCS down by 1.43%, Infosys down by 1.31% and Tata Motors down by 1.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, highlighting their optimism about India’s growth story, International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that “We are optimistic about India's prospects and view the economy being on an increasingly stable footing.” Though it has also stressed that India needs to further progress on the long standing supply bottlenecks for achieving faster and more inclusive growth,

IMF has often said that India is among the few bright spots in an otherwise gloomier world economy. In its latest report published ahead of the G20 Summit, the Washington-based multilateral institution said India's growth will benefit from recent policy reforms, a consequent pickup in investment, and lower commodity prices.

Deputy Director of IMF's Asia and Pacific Department, Kalpana Kochhar has said that there are many aspects where the India is growing such as Inflation has declined, the current account deficit is in check, international reserves are ample and economic growth is picking up. But stated that further progress is needed to relax long-standing supply bottlenecks (especially in the energy, mining and power sectors) and achieve faster and more inclusive growth. While pointing out the various positive developments, Kochhar said a number of important economic and structural reforms have also been initiated including diesel price deregulation, steps to create more flexible labour markets (particularly at the state level), coal sector reforms, adoption of the flexible inflation targeting framework by the RBI, increasing infrastructure spending, and enhancing financial inclusion.

Recently IMF had said that India remains one of the fastest growing economies in the world, though it marginally lowered India’s growth rate to 7.3 percent this year from the previous estimation of 7.5 percent in the July 2015 World Economic Outlook (WEO) Update, stating the reason of external environment and stated that the external demand has weakened hence Indian exports tends to suffer, which is the negative force pushing down the growth forecast for India.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7777.45, up by 15.20 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 7714.15 and 7779.60. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.85%, Indusind Bank up by 2.63%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.09%, Tata Steel up by 1.95% and ITC up by 1.64%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.85%, HCL Tech. down by 1.58%, Coal India down by 1.54%, Infosys down by 1.44% and TCS down by 1.44% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng decreased 357 points or 1.59% to 22,039.14, Nikkei 225 decreased 203.22 points or 1.04% to 19,393.69, Jakarta Composite decreased 42.56 points or 0.95% to 4,430.28, Taiwan Weighted decreased 34.1 points or 0.41% to 8,295.40, KOSPI Index decreased 30.27 points or 1.53% to 1,943.02, Shanghai Composite decreased 7.31 points or 0.2% to 3,573.53 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.41 points or 0.08% to 1,657.50.