Benchmarks magnify gains; Nifty above 25,700 mark

Indian equity benchmarks extended early gains to continue firm trade in late morning session, hovering near intra-day high level, on account of buying in front line blue chip counters taking cues from global counterparts. Sentiments got a boost with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley statement that India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, in terms of low levels of inflation, fiscal deficit and current account deficit. He also added that Indian economy has witnessed significant improvement in the macroeconomic stability. Besides, Value buying, coupled with clarity on the passage of some key economic legislation on the remaining three days of parliament's winter session also supported the upside. However, some investor remained worried with the former Finance Minister P Chidambaram tore into government's management of economy saying there is 'complete lack of direction' with no command over situation and the economy is 'stagnant'. Further, uncertainty over the GST Bill continues following the standoff between the government and the Congress.

On the global front, Asian share markets advanced in late trade after getting a lacklustre start, defying a dive on Wall Street, and the price of Brent crude threatened to plumb lows last seen in 2004 on renewed worries over a global oil glut. Further, European stocks are shrugging off an 11-year low for oil prices and starting the holiday-shortened week on the front foot. Back on street, stocks from Metal, Banking and PSU counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Consumer Durables counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, shares of Adani Power have surged after the company incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary company - Adani Power (Jharkhand) (APJL). Furthermore, Jubilant Life Sciences have rallied after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notified that foreign investors can now invest up to 45% of the paid-up capital of the company.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2770 stocks traded, 1745 stocks advanced, while 849 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25720.44, up by 201.22 points or 0.79% after trading in a range of 25413.54 and 25725.33. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.69%, while Small cap index up by 0.73%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.78%, Bankex up by 1.50%, PSU up by 1.38%, FMCG up by 1.27% and Power up by 1.05%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.72% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 3.62%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.02%, ITC up by 2.77%, ONGC up by 2.62% and Axis Bank up by 2.22%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 5.05%, Asian Paints down by 1.13% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.79% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Moody's Investors Service describing India’s focus on Foreign direct Investment (FDI) as credit positive has said that the improvement in the external situation will also provide support to the rupee. Moody's Investors' Senior VP Rahul Ghosh has said that improvement in India's external accounts in recent quarters, coupled with the country's growth out performance against major emerging markets, should provide a measure of support to capital inflows.and, by extension, the rupee.

In the last month, the government has significantly liberalized the foreign direct investment (FDI) regime, putting most of the sectors on the automatic route. Ghosh further said that “If recent changes in the policy successfully shift the composition of foreign capital inflows towards foreign direct investment, it would lower capital account volatility, a credit positive.”

In the mid-year economic analysis 2015-16, the government said India's external position appears robust, with the current account deficit (CAD) at a comfortable 1.2 per cent of GDP. The net FDI inflows have grown to over $17 billion in April- September of the current fiscal from $15.8 billion in the same period last fiscal 2014-15. This is noteworthy against the background of uncertainty in other capital inflows.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7826.60, up by 64.65 points or 0.83% after trading in a range of 7733.45 and 7827.05. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 3.64%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.10%, ITC up by 2.92%, ONGC up by 2.75% and Idea Cellular up by 2.52%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 5.04%, Asian Paints down by 1.07%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.84%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.47% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.46% were the top losers.

Most of the Asian markets were trading in green; KOSPI Index was up by 0.3%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.3%, Shanghai Composite up by 1.77% and Hang Seng was up by 0.17%. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 0.37%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI down by 0.81% and Jakarta Composite was down by 0.02%.

European markets were trading in green with, France’s CAC 40 was up by 0.17%, Germany's DAX moved up 0.36% and Britain’s FTSE 100 has gained 0.05%.