Benchmarks continue to trade in green in late morning session

Indian bourses continued to trade higher in late morning session on account of value-buying by funds and retail investors. Sentiments got some support with a private report that India's net FDI flows are expected to rise further this fiscal to $38 billion on emergence of some ‘positive signs’ such as regulatory easing in select sectors and reform measures initiated by the government. Net FDI flows in 2015-2016 stood at around $36 billion as against $31 billion for 2014-2015. Furthermore, India Inc's credit profile was at its best last financial year with over 89 per cent of its debt securities being rated as safe for investment -- a record high for such issues. Credit rating agencies (CRAs) in 2015-16 rated a total of 952 long-term corporate debt securities worth Rs 12.8 lakh crore.  Firm global cues coupled with the appreciation in rupee value against the dollar added to the optimistic sentiments. Indian rupee strengthens against the US dollar at 67.26, up 0.28% from its previous close of 67.45, on increased dollar selling by exporters and banks. However, gains remained capped with RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s  statement that India should restrain itself from being ‘too ambitious’ at a time when the world is full of uncertainties and instead focus on sensible policies to ensure a sustainable economic growth. Rajan has also said that Indian economy has certainly picked up pace in growth, but certain sectors are still under stress, making the economic recovery uneven.

On the global front, Asian markets trading mostly in green on Monday after a solid session on Wall Street, while the dollar moved away from recent highs though remained supported as investors bet that the US Federal Reserve was on track to raise rates sooner rather than later. Further, Japan's Nikkei stock index extended losses, shedding over half a percent on worrying economic data and reports that Japan's sales tax increase would proceed as planned, while in China, shares rallied amid signs that regulators are eager to limit new shares coming to the market.

Back home, stocks from FMCG, Power and Consumer Durables counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Realty, information technology (IT) and Capital Goods counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, shares of Patel Engineering have surged after the company announced that the joint venture company secured orders worth of Rs 2,377 crore from IRCON International. On the other hand, Britannia Industries has dipped after the company reported a lower-than-expected 13.8% year on year (YoY) growth in net profit of Rs 190 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, on the back of a single digit growth in revenues.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2127 stocks traded, 1093 stocks advanced, while 921 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25332.56, up by 30.66 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 25300.48 and 25519.26. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.28%, while Small cap index up by 0.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.41%, Power up by 0.59%, Consumer Durables up by 0.43%, Bankex up by 0.22% and Auto up by 0.21%, while Realty down by 0.62%, IT down by 0.37%, Capital Goods down by 0.16%, TECK down by 0.13% and Oil & Gas down by 0.09% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 3.23%, Adani Ports &Special up by 1.49%, Tata Motors up by 1.14%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.07% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.02%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.40%, ONGC down by 1.24%, Cipla down by 1.09%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.85% and HDFC down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to deepen their ties, India and Oman has signed four key agreements in the critical sector with focus on enhancing military cooperation. The pacts were signed during the recent visit of India’s Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to Oman. The agreements included defence co-operation, marine crime prevention, maritime issues and flight safety information exchange.

Defence Minister during his visit discussed all aspects of bilateral defence cooperation including enhanced military to military exchanges, besides, both sides also exchanged views on regional developments of mutual interest. It was agreed that the two sides would further expand and consolidate their ongoing bilateral defence cooperation.

Further, Parrikar reiterated the high importance that India attaches to its strategic partnership with Oman and further conveyed his appreciation at the continued support rendered by Oman for the Operational Turnaround (OTR) of Indian Navy ships for anti-piracy patrols as well as technical support for landing and overflight of IAF planes.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7767.60, up by 17.90 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 7756.30 and 7820.60. There were 33 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ITC up by 3.19%, Tata Power up by 2.16%, Bharti Infratel up by 1.92%, ACC up by 1.76% and Power Grid up by 1.62%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.30%, ONGC down by 1.27%, Cipla down by 1.04%, HDFC down by 0.81% and Infosys down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 0.08%, KOSPI Index up by 0.4%, Shanghai Composite up by 0.61%, Jakarta Composite up by 0.55%, Hang Seng up by 0.26% up by, Taiwan Weighted was up by 2.53%. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 0.52%.