Markets continue to trade in green in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in early noon session, on account of sustained buying by fund and retail investors in the blue-chip counters such as Power, IT and TECK. Sentiment got some support with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that Australian future and super funds be exposed to India and called for increase in investment by Australia businesses in India as they can get better returns on their investment. Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors’ (FII) inflow in the Indian market so far this month is the highest single-month investment since February 2013. According to data from National Securities Depository and Securities and Exchange Board of India, FIIs have put in Rs 21,327 crore ($3.18 billion) so far in the Indian market during the current month (till March 29).

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red despite overnight gains from Wall Street, as receding worries of near-term U.S. interest rate hikes continued to buoy risk sentiment. Back home, in scrip specific development, shares of Jain Irrigation Systems (JISL) were trading higher after the company’s subsidiary -- Jain Farm Fresh Foods (JFFFL), has raised Rs 402 crore from Mandala Capital, in a bid to cut debt and fasten growth of the food processing business. Natco Pharma has surged as the company has received its board approval for the sale of ‘Save Mart Pharmacy Stores’ located in US which is a non-core business of the company.

Market breadth remains positive as 1211 stocks advance while 975 decline.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25424.26, up by 85.68 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 25341.47 and 25479.62. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.32%, while Small cap index up by 0.49%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 0.99%, IT up by 0.66%, TECK up by 0.61%, FMCG up by 0.57% and Bankex up by 0.57%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.39%, Realty down by 0.21%, Metal down by 0.20% and Oil & Gas down by 0.11% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.44%, NTPC up by 1.35%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.28%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.25% and ITC up by 0.98%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.65%, Tata Steel down by 1.45%, Asian Paints down by 1.12%, HDFC down by 0.93% and GAIL India down by 0.89% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to support India's universal sanitation initiative, the government and World Bank have signed $1.5 billion loan agreement for the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). The pact for SBM Support Operation Project is to help the government in its efforts to ensure that all citizens in the rural areas have access to improved sanitation with a focus on changing behaviour and eliminating the practice of open defecation by 2019.

The project will support the rural component, known as SBM - Gramin (SBM-G), over a five-year period using a new performance-based programme which links funds directly to results, ensuring that benefits are delivered to the people in need - more than 60 per cent of India's population that resides in rural areas. The project will also finance specific activities to strengthen the current monitoring and evaluation system to capture timely, relevant, and reliable information on the programme's progress.

The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) will oversee and coordinate the project and support the participating states. Funds will also be used to develop the capacity of MDWS in programme management, advocacy, monitoring and evaluation. The World Bank will also provide a parallel $25 million technical assistance to build the capacity of select states in implementing community-led behavioural change programmes targeting social norms to help ensure widespread usage of toilets by rural households.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7763.30, up by 28.10 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 7725.50 and 7777.60. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Power up by 3.35%, Vedanta up by 1.64%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.58%, Sun Pharma up by 1.45% and Indusind Bank up by 1.38%. On the flip side, Cairn India down by 2.74%, ONGC down by 1.61%, Tata Steel down by 1.50%, Asian Paints down by 1.13% and Bosch down by 1.03% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 74.77 points or 0.36% to 20,728.62, KOSPI Index decreased 6.29 points or 0.31% to 1,995.85, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 3.54 points or 0.21% to 1,714.28 and Jakarta Composite decreased 0.28 points or 0.01% to 4,816.38. While Shanghai Composite increased 6.08 points or 0.2% to 3,006.73, Taiwan Weighted increased 7.79 points or 0.09% to 8,744.83 and Nikkei 225 increased 13.37 points or 0.08% to 16,892.33.