Benchmarks gains strength; Nifty surpass 7800 mark

Indian equity markets added strength and started trading in green in the late morning session on account of buying in front line blue chip counters. Though the market started the trade in red after government lowered its economic growth forecast for 2015-16 to 7-7.5 percent but buying emerged at beaten down frontline counters which pulled the indices in green. Some support also came in after respite in Parliament, with the government hopeful about a substantial portion of pending legislative business being completed in the remaining three days of the Winter Session, where 18 bills are pending.  Traders were seen piling position in Metal, Bankex and PSU stocks while selling was witnessed in Consumer Durables sector stocks. In the scrip specific development, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries was trading under pressure on receiving a warning letter from US regulator over violation of manufacturing standards at its Halol plant in Gujarat, which is its largest manufacturing facility.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 7,800 and 25,600 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1560:558 while 129 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25680.01, up by 160.79 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 25413.54 and 25680.47. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.61%, while Small cap index up by 0.65%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.62%, Bankex up by 1.37%, PSU up by 1.16%, Power up by 0.84% and Auto up by 0.73%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.52% was the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 3.16%, Coal India up by 1.82%, Axis Bank up by 1.69%, ONGC up by 1.68% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.49%.

On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 5.88%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.55%, Asian Paints down by 0.49%, Wipro down by 0.43% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.08% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley highlighting that India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, has said that in terms of low levels of inflation, fiscal deficit and current account deficit, Indian economy has witnessed significant improvement in the macroeconomic stability.

Jaitley further said that at current point of time, the macroeconomic outcome in India is one of the consolidation of the economic recovery evidenced in recent years, adding that the outcome is creditable considering that the global economic situation continues to be uncertain transmitting negative spill-over’s, because of which emerging markets and developing economies have in general, become more vulnerable and fragile. He also said that the current macroeconomic outcome is far superior to that in early 2013-14 when the situation was worrisome in terms of high current account and fiscal deficits with high inflation, high interest rates and low growth.

He said that the Government continues to adhere to the path of fiscal consolidation, despite the pressing need for enhanced public investment to boost the economic growth and tough commitments on account of requirements of federal structure. Signalling that India is firmly on the path of economic revival, in the fiscal year 2014-15, India clocked 7.3 per cent growth rate in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), higher than 6.9 per cent growth achieved in 2013-14 and 5.1 per cent in 2012-13, showing that India is firmly on the path of economic revival.

Regarding Goods and Service Tax (GST) bill, Jaitley said that it was been delayed for “collateral reasons” , hinting that GST Bill may not go through in the current session of Parliament. He further added that the government will push for other reform bills including amendment to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, a legislation to set up commercial courts and bankruptcy code, in the Rajya Sabha in the remaining days of the Winter Session.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7812.95, up by 51.00 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 7733.45 and 7816.35. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 3.22%, Power Grid Corporation of India up by 2.51%, ONGC up by 1.99%, Coal India up by 1.98% and Axis Bank up by 1.77%.

On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 5.73%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.63%, Tata Power down by 0.38%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.36% and BPCL down by 0.34% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite increased 2.45 points or 0.05% to 4,471.10, KOSPI Index increased 7.01 points or 0.35% to 1,982.33, Taiwan Weighted increased 14.43 points or 0.17% to 8,271.75, Shanghai Composite increased 69.25 points or 1.94% to 3,648.22 and Hang Seng increased 86.94 points or 0.4% to 21,842.50.

On the other hand, Nikkei 225 decreased 87.39 points or 0.46% to 18,899.41 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 15.22 points or 0.93% to 1,628.68.