Benchmarks trade in fine fettle; Nifty regains 7,700 mark

Indian equity benchmarks are trading in fine fettle in noon deals on buying by domestic investors and foreign funds ahead of IIP and inflation data scheduled to be released later in the day. Markets extended their gains with frontline gauges recaptured their crucial 7,700 (Nifty) and 25,100 (Sensex) levels. Sentiments remained up-beat with Global rating agency, Fitch Ratings expecting India’s GDP growth to gradually accelerate to 7.7 per cent in the current fiscal and 7.9 per cent in FY18, a shade higher than the estimated 7.5 per cent in the previous year on a back of higher real disposable income, assuming a normal monsoon after two years of below-average rainfall and a substantial wage increase for central government employees. Some support also came with report that foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country during April-February 2015-16 has increased by 27.45 percent to $42 billion from $32.96 billion inflows in April-February 2014-15, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green at this point of time, led by Japanese equities as the yen retreated after a seven-day rally amid the start of the US earnings season. Back home, shares of automobile companies i.e. Escorts, VST Tillers Tractors, Ashok Leyland, Hero MotoCorp etc. were in focus on the bourses on expectations of above normal monsoon this year. The broader indices too were trading in-line with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,470 shares on the gaining side against 840 shares on the losing side while 119 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25144.02, up by 121.86 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 24996.44 and 25148.81. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.05%, while Small cap index up by 0.94%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Industrials up by 1.1.53%, Auto up by 1.31%, Consumer Durables up by 1.24%, Healthcare up by 1.19% and Capital Goods up by 1.16%, while Metal down by 0.76% and IT down by 0.05% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 3.34%, Adani Ports &Special up by 2.08%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.07%, ICICI Bank up by 1.96% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.70%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.10%, ITC down by 0.93%, Tata Steel down by 0.89%, HDFC Bank down by 0.57% and Wipro down by 0.50% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country during April-February 2015-16 has increased by 27.45 percent to $42 billion from $32.96 billion inflows in April-February 2014-15, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data.

The data further highlighted that the FDI in February was $3.2 billion, down from $5.14 billion in January. The foreign direct inflows were $3.48 billion in February 2015. Furthermore, the net FDI (minus FDI outflow) was $34.04 billion during April-February as against $29.66 billion in the same period of the last fiscal.

As per the Finance Ministry, 98 per cent of foreign direct investment is coming into India through the automatic route and the number of applications being routed via the FIPB approval route has started declining. The government has been liberalising the FDI regime  and has brought a number of sectors such as insurance, railways, defence, and e-commerce under the automatic route.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7707.40, up by 36.00 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 7663.35 and 7712.05. There were 36 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 3.41%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.20%, Tata Motors up by 2.13%, Adani Ports & Special up by 2.12% and Zee Entertainment up by 2.04%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.98%, ITC down by 1.19%, Tata Steel down by 0.91%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.89% and HDFC Bank down by 0.60% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 10.95 points or 0.56% to 1,981.32, Jakarta Composite gained 30.94 points or 0.65% to 4,817.92, Hang Seng rose 82.33 points or 0.4% to 20,523.14 and Nikkei 225 was up by 177.66 points or 1.13% to 15,928.79.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted decreased 31.41 points or 0.37% to 8,531.18, Shanghai Composite shed 15.53 points or 0.51% to 3,018.43 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 1.69 points or 0.1% to 1,713.59.