Benchmarks continue to trade marginally in green

Indian equity benchmarks are trading marginally in green in early noon session, on buying in selective counters, tracking positive cues in Asian markets. Investors get some encouragement with former governor of RBI C Rangarajan’s statement that Indian economy will slightly perform better this year as the productivity level of capital may remain high. Caution ahead of Parliament Winter session and F&O expiry of contracts in the derivatives segment on Thursday seems to have influenced the sentiments.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, following a rally on Wall Street last week as investors continue to look out for comments from central bankers on the trajectory of U.S. monetary policy. Back home, the broader markets were outperforming the larger peers with BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices trading up by 0.53% and 0.80%, respectively. Traders were seen piling up positions in Reality, Auto, Capital goods, IT and Consumer Durables, while selling was witnessed in Metal and FMCG sector stocks. In scrip specific development, share of Aurobindo Pharma was trading higher after the company received final approval from the US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) to manufacture and market Sildenafil Tablets, 20 mg. This product is expected to be launched by Q4FY 2015-16. The approved ANDA is bioequivalent and therapeutically equivalent to the reference listed drug product (RLD) REVATIO (sildenafil citrate) Tablets 20 mg of Pfizer, Inc.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2387 stocks traded, 1420 stocks advanced, while 819 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25892.95, up by 24.46 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 25825.76 and 25958.04. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.45%, while Small cap index gained 0.76%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.30%, Auto up by 0.77%, Capital Goods up by 0.61%, IT up by 0.52% and Consumer Durables up by 0.49%, while Metal down by 0.89% and FMCG down by 0.75% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero MotoCorp up by 2.94%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.30%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.50%, Lupin up by 1.23% and BHEL up by 1.11%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 3.10%, Vedanta down by 2.15%, ITC down by 1.93%, Tata Steel down by 1.39% and Cipla down by 1.15% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, showing a positive sign, India and European Union (EU) will again start talks on the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which was halted for 30 months. Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that 'We are resuming the talks with the EU. The chief negotiators will meet soon’.

While stating the reason for the FTA talks with EU, Sitharaman has said that the concern over the EU banning sale of around 700 pharma products, clinically tested by GVK Biosciences, India had in August deferred FTA talks with EU when the Chief negotiators of both the sides were scheduled to meet. She said that India deferred the talks because EU's action was 'unilateral' and was 'not right'. Highlighting about the drug ban issue, Sitharaman said 'We have resolved it in the sense that when German Chancellor Angela Merkel came and the Prime Minister met her in Bengaluru, he had raised the issue of 700 drugs being banned. And she has assured the Prime Minister that she will look into it and the matter will be given fair justice'.

The negotiations for the proposed Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement, launched in June 2007, have witnessed many hurdles with both sides having major differences on crucial issues which include movement of professionals and data security status. Besides demanding significant duty cuts in automobiles, EU wants tax reduction in wines and spirits and dairy products and a strong intellectual property regime.

Besides, Sitharaman asserted that negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was going full fledged. Moreover she added 'The negotiations are happening in details. So, we are moving forward in FTAs as well as plurilaterals'.  The free trade pact aimed at reducing or significantly eliminating tariffs on goods, facilitate trade in services boost investments between the two sides. The two-way commerce in goods between India and the EU stood at $98.5 billion in 2014-15.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7867.85, up by 11.30 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 7846.80 and 7877.50. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 3.09%, Adani Ports &Special up by 2.67%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.32%, Asian Paints up by 2.15% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.99%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 3.11%, Vedanta down by 2.09%, ITC down by 1.95%, Tata Steel down by 1.57% and Bank of Baroda down by 1.48% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 10.1 points or 0.61% to 1,671.99, KOSPI Index increased 13.75 points or 0.69% to 2,003.61, Jakarta Composite increased 13.77 points or 0.3% to 4,575.11 and Taiwan Weighted increased 20.28 points or 0.24% to 8,485.73, while Hang Seng decreased 60.39 points or 0.27% to 22,694.33 and Shanghai Composite decreased 4.35 points or 0.12% to 3,626.15.