Indian equities extend boisterous performance in late morning session

Prolonging their northbound journey, Indian benchmark equity indices are hovering near the highest point of the day as investor’s sentiment remained buoyant tracking a firming trend in the rest of Asia, following the overnight rally in the US on improved economic data. Sentiments got a boost after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the India stands out as a haven of stability amid a weak economic environment globally and promised steps to sustain growth. He also said the country's macroeconomics factors are stable and the government is committed to fiscal consolidation as well as low inflation.  Some support also came with the Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh’s expectation that the country likely to achieve 4% growth in the farm sector next fiscal year, helped by the Budget boost and on early predictions of a favourable monsoon.  Besides, appreciation in Indian rupee too aided sentiments. Indian rupee added to its gains by rising 11 paise to a fresh three-week high of 67.74 against the dollar on continued selling of the US currency by banks and exporters. Meanwhile, banking shares mainly public sector undertakings (PSUs) have rallied after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed banks to beef up its capital adequacy by including certain items such as property value, foreign exchange for calculation of its Tier-I capital. Strong buying also witnessed in FMCG stocks as the rural and agriculture push is likely to drive sales of FMCG companies.

On the global front, Asian markets look set to test February highs on Wednesday as signs of recovery in the US manufacturing sector and gains in oil prices eased worries about a global slowdown and pushed US stocks sharply higher. Major indices like Hang Seng, Nikkei and Shanghai were trading higher over two percent each.  Furthermore, Wall Street enjoyed its strongest day in a month on Tuesday, led by financial and technology stocks after encouraging US factory and construction data suggested the world’s biggest economy was regaining momentum.

Back home, all BSE sectoral indices were trading in the green. Among them, Banking index gained the most by 4.13 per cent, followed by Realty 4.06 per cent, PSU 2.55 per cent and Capital Goods 2.04 per cent. In scrip specific development, shares of Hero MotoCorp (HMCL) have rallied after the company clocked a double digit growth in two-wheeler sales in the month of February 2016. Moreover, shares of Vakrangee have surged after the company announced a tie-up with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOC) for setting up Vakrangee Kendra at its retail outlets (distribution network).

The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1771 shares on the gaining side against 314 shares on the losing side while 80 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24142.95, up by 363.60 points or 1.53% after trading in a range of 24043.89 and 24249.31. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 2.00%, while Small cap index up by 2.26%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 4.13%, Realty up by 4.06%, PSU up by 2.55%, Capital Goods up by 2.04% and Power up by 1.96%, while there were no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 8.72%, BHEL up by 7.34%, Hero MotoCorp up by 6.67%, ICICI Bank up by 5.85% and Adani Ports &Special up by 5.01%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.86%, ITC down by 1.17%, Coal India down by 0.61%, Wipro down by 0.57% and TCS down by 0.37% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to strengthen technical co-operation on good manufacturing practices, Minister of State for Fertilisers Hansraj Gangaram Ahir has said that India is engaging with European Union’s (EU) to sort out regulatory issues following the 28-nation block's ban on around 700 pharma products which were clinically tested by GVK Biosciences on the ground of inaccuracy in data.

Ahir has said that the 700 pharmaceutical products for which authorisation in the EU was primarily based on clinical studies conducted at GVK Biosciences at Hyderabad had suspension on the recommendation of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). This suspension of the products has come after an inspection at GVK Biosciences conducted by French Medicines Agency (ANSM) revealed data manipulations of electrocardiograms (ECGs) during the conduct of some studies of generic medicines.

Earlier in August 2015 India had deferred scheduled talks on free trade agreement (FTA) which was to resume after a gap of two years after the EU imposed a ban on around 700 generic drugs.  During the same period, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel to use her influence in EU to remove the barriers for resumption of Free Trade Agreement talks with the 28-member bloc.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7353.85, up by 131.55 points or 1.82% after trading in a range of 7308.15 and 7372.45. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bank of Baroda up by 8.78%, SBI up by 8.76%, BHEL up by 7.97%, Hindalco up by 7.19% and Hero MotoCorp up by 7.08%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.90%, ITC down by 0.91%, Coal India down by 0.72%, Wipro down by 0.62% and TCS down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 0.69%, KOSPI Index up by 1.58%, Jakarta Composite up by 1%, Shanghai Composite up by 2.25%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.83%, Hang Seng up by 2.59% and Nikkei 225 was up by 4.2%.