Benchmarks continue to trade in green after RBI's policy status quo

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade in narrow range with positive bias in the early noon session, as Reserve Bank of India kept its key repo lending rate unchanged at 6.75% while the CRR remained unaltered at 4%, after consumer inflation picked up to a four-month high and as emerging markets brace for a US rate hike. Though sentiment remained upbeat after India’s GDP growth accelerated to 7.4 percent in the July-September quarter from 7 percent in the previous quarter. Appreciation in Indian rupee too aided the sentiment. Rupee appreciated by 14 paise to 66.53 against the dollar in early trade on increased selling of the American currency by exporters and banks. At present, both sensex and Nifty were trading above the crucial 26,150 and 7,900 levels respectively.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, despite a lower finish on Wall Street overnight, as investors’ eye key data due later this week, while Chinese markets traded in the red after investor sentiment took a hit from private and official November PMI surveys. Back home, the broader markets were outperforming the larger peers with BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were trading up by 0.52% and 0.39%, respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2479 stocks traded, 1410 stocks advanced, while 954 stocks declined on the BSE.

In scrip specific development, share of Shreyas Shipping & Logistics was trading higher after the company received its board’s approval to enter into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the formation of a Joint Venture Company (JVC) with Suzue Corporation, Japan for exploring business opportunities in the logistics space within India and Japan.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26195.64, up by 49.97 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 26121.52 and 26246.02. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.51%, while Small cap index was higher by 0.38%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.82%, Oil & Gas up by 0.94%, PSU up by 0.74%, Power up by 0.57% and Consumer Durables up by 0.53%, while Auto down by 0.24% were the losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.43%, Vedanta up by 2.33%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.26%, Wipro up by 1.88% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.81%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.84%, Axis Bank down by 0.73%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.57%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.44% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.42% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India has received $32.87 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) during October 2014 to September this year. During the period, the sectors which attracted FDI, include computer software and hardware, services sector, trading, automobile, construction activities, chemicals, power, pharmaceuticals, industrial machinery and food processing. Commenting on the FDI inflow, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that “The Make in India initiatives of the government and its outreach to all investors have made a positive investment.”

The country received only $0.08 million (Rs 0.48 crore) and $23.2 million (Rs 146.65 crore) FDI  in defence and railway related components respectively , during the October-September period. However, retail trading attracted $70.75 million investment in this period.

Sitharaman further said that the growth in FDI has been significant after the launch of Make in India initiative. FDI increased by 48 per cent during October 2014 and April this year. She added “The increased inflow of FDI in India especially in a climate of contracting worldwide investments indicates the faith that investors have reposed in the country's economy and the reforms initiated by the government towards ease of doing business and further liberalsing the economy. “

Further showing signs of improvement, several foreign companies have made announcements to invest in India including Cisco, LG, Quanta, Foxconn, Samsung, Vivo Xiaomi, IKEA, Airbus and Softbank. Cisco has announced to invest $2 billion this year and the company will invest additional $60 million in India on training and facility expansion. While, Airbus is planning to manufacture in the country and has plans to raise Indian outsourcing from $400 million to $2 billion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7948.65, up by 13.40 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 7934.15 and 7972.05. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 2.64, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.43%, Vedanta up by 2.33%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.32% and Wipro up by 1.84%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.86%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.45%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.27%, Axis Bank down by 0.98% and Bank Of Baroda down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 4.99 points or 0.3% to 1,677.15, Shanghai Composite increased 11.37 points or 0.33% to 3,456.77, KOSPI Index increased 32.11 points or 1.61% to 2,024.08, Jakarta Composite increased 74.16 points or 1.67% to 4,520.62, Taiwan Weighted increased 142.69 points or 1.71% to 8,463.30, Nikkei 225 increased 181.7 points or 0.92% to 19,929.17 and Hang Seng increased 454.76 points or 2.07% to 22,451.18.