Benchmarks continue firm trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks added strength and continued its firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in front line blue chip counters taking cues from Asian counterparts which bounced at the end of a tumultuous week, recovering from four-year lows, thanks to hints of more monetary policy support by the European Central Bank and a rally in crude oil from 12-year lows. The sentiments also got some support after rupee rose against the US dollar amid hopes that a rebound in crude oil prices globally may halt outflows from emerging markets (EMs). Traders were seen piling position in Metal, Auto and PSU sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Bangalore-based pharma company Biocon was trading in green after its third quarter profit increased 13.3% year-on-year to Rs 103 crore, supported by operational performance and other income but R&D expenses and slow revenue growth limited growth.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in green while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 7,400 and 24,300 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1994:514 while 148 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24394.91, up by 432.70 points or 1.81% after trading in a range of 24120.04 and 24440.46. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.84%, while Small cap index up by 2.00%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 4.10%, Auto up by 3.24%, PSU up by 3.01%, Oil & Gas up by 2.82% and Bankex up by 2.71%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 7.33%, Tata Steel up by 5.27%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 4.79%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.71% and SBI up by 4.26%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 4.07%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.21%, Wipro down by 0.13% and Infosys down by 0.10% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made a few amendments to its Master Direction on the Gold Monetisation Scheme in consultation with the government in order to make the scheme 'more customer-friendly'. RBI said that the depositors will be able to withdraw medium-term (5-7 year) and long-term government deposits (12-15 years) pre-maturely after the minimum lock-in period of three years in the case of medium term deposits and after five years in the case of long term deposits.

However, such withdrawal will attract a penalty, in the form of a lower rate of interest for premature withdrawals depending upon the actual period for which the deposit has run. The rate of interest on deposits will be decided by government and notified by the RBI from time to time. For medium-term deposits, withdrawal between three years and five years will attract a penalty of 0.375 per cent in reduced interest rate. For withdrawal between five to seven years, the penalty will be 0.25 per cent in a reduced interest rate. For long-term deposits, the penalty between five to seven years will be 0.25 per cent; between seven to 12 years, 0.375 per cent; between 12 to 15 years, 0.25 per cent.

Further, RBI said that for medium and long-term deposits in the first year, the government will pay banks a total commission of 2.5 per cent -- 1.5 per cent as handling charges and 1 per cent as commission. Moreover, in case of large tenders of gold, the RBI said that the metal can be deposited directly with refiners wherever they have the assaying capacity and added that this will reduce the time lag between the time the raw gold is deposited and it starts bearing interest.

At present the rate of interest as notified by the government on medium term deposit is 2.25 per cent per annum and for long term deposit is 2.50 per cent per annum.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7415.15, up by 138.35 points or 1.90% after trading in a range of 7327.60 and 7428.50. There were 45 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 7.31%, Hindalco up by 5.34%, Tata Steel up by 5.01%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 4.97% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.93%.

On the flip side, Idea Cellular down by 6.23%, Bharti Airtel down by 3.94%, Infosys down by 0.12% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.09% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 22.68 points or 1.42% to 1,623.60, Jakarta Composite increased 32.47 points or 0.74% to 4,446.59, Shanghai Composite increased 36.08 points or 1.25% to 2,916.56, KOSPI Index increased 38.9 points or 2.11% to 1,879.43, Taiwan Weighted increased 92.17 points or 1.2% to 7,756.18, Hang Seng increased 538.36 points or 2.9% to 19,080.51 and Nikkei 225 increased 941.27 points or 5.88% to 16,958.53.

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 89.64 points or 1.55% to 5,863.43, France’s CAC increased 88.35 points or 2.1% to 4,294.75 and Germany’s DAX increased 159.98 points or 1.67% to 9,734.14.