Benchmarks magnify gains; Nifty above 7850 mark

Indian equity benchmarks extended early gains to continue firm trade in late morning session, on back of short-covering by participants on November series expiry in the derivatives contracts and positive global cues. Sentiments got a boost after Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured investors that he would “carefully hold” their hands and expressed hope that the GST regime would be rolled out in 2016. Besides, a firming trend at other Asian bourses on easing tensions over Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian warplane and broadly upbeat US economic data also sparked buying on domestic markets. Some support also came with the report that India's crude oil import bill is likely to dip by 35 per cent to $73 billion this fiscal as global energy prices slumped on weak demand.  Apart from blue chips, broader indices too equally participated in the gain with both mid cap and small cap indices were up by 0.32 per cent and 0.65 per cent respectively. However, gains remained capped with the report that the country is likely to miss its export target and may end up below the $300 billion mark in 2015-16 due to the global slowdown. Further, International rating agency Moody's Investors Service expressed the concern by saying that a loss of momentum on reforms may hamper investment and prove to be a 'downside factor' for Indian companies.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading higher, on growing bets that the European Central Bank was gearing up to deliver further stimulus steps to keep the euro under pressure. Overnight, Wall Street ended flat as consumer discretionary and healthcare shares battled losses in other sectors on the last full trading day of the week. Back on street, all BSE sectoral indices were trading in the green. Among them, Realty index gained the most by 1.47 per cent, followed by Consumer Durables 1.08 per cent, Metal 0.78 per cent and PSU 0.64 per cent. In scrip specific development, shares of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries have surged after the company has shelved plans to invest in wind energy project in the United States (US) following investor concerns. On the other hand, shares of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories have dipped on reports that the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) might withhold approval of the company's fresh drugs and stop import if no corrective action is taken.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2282 stocks traded, 1445 stocks advanced, while 683 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25912.21, up by 136.47 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 25769.81 and 25960.28. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.32%, while Small cap index up by 0.56%.

There were no losers on the BSE Sectoral front, however, prominent gainers were Realty up by 1.47%, Consumer Durables up by 1.08%, Metal up by 0.78%, PSU up by 0.64% and TECK up by 0.57%

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma Inds. up by 4.05%, Tata Motors up by 1.87%, Hindalco up by 1.42%, ICICI Bank up by 1.33% and Reliance Industries up by 1.31%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 6.21%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.12%, GAIL India down by 0.58%, TCS down by 0.22% and Lupin down by 0.14% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has approved six foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals amounting Rs 1,810 crore based on the recommendations of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in its meeting held on October 30, 2015, including that of IIFL Holdings- the largest amounting to Rs 1,810.25 crore. The approval of IIFL Holdings, a NBFC company was sought for increasing the foreign equity from 50.16% to 80% by way of issuing shares to FIIs.

Among other proposals, FIPB also cleared proposals of Agile Electric Sub Assembly from manufacturing sector, Sharekhan and SeQuent Scientific. These proposals, however, will not involve any inflow of foreign investment and have more to do with restructuring of businesses. Further, it also cleared proposals of the US-based Monsoon Capital the Alternative Investment Trust (AIF) with investment of Rs 10 crore, while the proposal of Serap India of the manufacturing sector involves investment of Rs 25 lakh.

However, FIPB rejected proposal of a NBFC Volkswagen Finance which sought approval with 100% existing foreign equity for investment in Indian government treasury bills and / or Indian government securities and / or liquid mutual funds and / or high quality corporate debt securities.

FDI is permitted in most of the sectors through automatic route, but the segments which are considered sensitive for economy need to be first cleared from FIPB. The FIPB can recommend foreign investment proposals of up to Rs 3,000 crore to the finance minister for approval and the proposals worth above that are referred to CCEA.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7871.60, up by 40 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 7832.00 and 7885.65. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 4.16%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.76%, Tata Motors up by 1.96%, Hindalco up by 1.49% and ICICI Bank up by 1.37%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 6.23%, Bosch down by 1.41%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.20%, HCL Tech down by 0.63% and Cairn India down by 0.61% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 0.02%, Shanghai Composite up by 0.36%, KOSPI Index up by 1.14%, Jakarta Composite up by 0.61%, Taiwan Weighted up by 1.11%, Nikkei 225 up by 0.58% and Hang Seng was up by 0.78%.