Benchmarks continue firm trade in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade firm in late morning session on account of buying in front line blue chip counters taking cues from global counterparts. Sentiments remained up-beat on report that the current account deficit (CAD) narrowed to 1.6 percent of GDP at $ 8.2 billion in the second quarter ended September, compared to $10.9 billion or 2.2 per cent of GDP reported in the same period last year, mainly due to lower trade deficit. Appreciation in Indian rupee too aided sentiments. Extending its gains for the seventh day in a row, the rupee strengthened by 9 paise to 66.24 against the US dollar in early trade on continued selling of the American currency by exporters and banks amid fresh foreign funds inflows. Apart from blue chips, broader indices too equally participated in the gain with both mid cap and small cap indices were up by 0.52 per cent and 0.76 per cent respectively. On the global front, Asian markets followed their Wall Street peers higher on Wednesday as investors cheered strong US data and a pause in the greenback's rally. Oil prices are staging a modest recovery that's helping lift energy and material stocks. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped nearly 200 points after the final estimate for US third quarter gross domestic product was revised down to 2 per cent from a previous 2.1 per cent, but that still beat expectations for a 1.9 per cent reading.

Back on street, all BSE sectoral indices were trading in the green. Among them, Metal index gained the most by 1.78 per cent, followed by Oil & Gas 1.20 per cent, Power 1.16 per cent and TECK 0.93 per cent. In scrip specific development, shares of Tata Steel have surged after the company announced that Tata Steel UK has signed a Letter of Intent with Greybull Capital to sell its long products Europe business. Furthermore, Welspun Enterprises has rallied after the company announced plans to divest its stake in Dewas Bhopal Road Corridor to India Infrastructure Fund-II, an alternate fund sponsored by IDFC.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2310 stocks traded, 1585 stocks advanced, while 565 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25839.97, up by 249.32 points or 0.97% after trading in a range of 25689.70 and 25863.44. 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 0.52%, while Small cap index up by 0.76%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.78%, Oil & Gas up by 1.20%, Power up by 1.16%, TECK up by 0.93% and Capital Goods up by 0.93%, while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 4.28%, BHEL up by 3.34%, Tata Steel up by 3.32%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 3.09% and Reliance Industries up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.47%, Wipro down by 0.12% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.08% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Inter-ministerial body FIPB has cleared nine proposals including that of Cadila Healthcare and Volvo Asset Finance India. Barring Cadila Healthcare, other eight proposals cleared by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) will result in inflow of about Rs 1,200 crore into the country.

Cadila Healthcare proposal came for reconsideration at the FIPB following the changes made by the government in foreign direct investment (FDI) policy last month. Earlier, Cadila proposal was cleared and recommended to seek Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) nod as the investment proposals was over Rs 3,000 crore. However, as per the revised norms, the FIPB could itself give clearance to FDI proposals up to worth Rs 5,000 crore. Therefore, the Cadila Healthcare proposal again came up for consideration before the FIPB.

The FIPB, headed by Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, deferred few proposals including Holcim (India), HSBC Securities and Capital Markets and Raheja QBE General Insurance. It also rejected two proposals of Mokeme Chiwetal Izuchukwu and Lanarth Developers. The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7860.15, up by 74.05 points or 0.95% after trading in a range of 7826.10 and 7864.60. There were 49 stocks advancing against 1 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 4.46%m, BHEL up by 3.37%, Sun Pharma up by 3.21%, Tata Steel up by 3.13% and Vedanta up by 2.27%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.58% was the sole loser on NSE index.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Shanghai Composite was up by 0.16%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI up by 0.68%, KOSPI Index up by 0.31%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.37% and Hang Seng up by 1.01%. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 0.16% and Jakarta Composite was down by 0.21%.