Benchmarks bounce back in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks bounced back in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters and taking cues from global counterparts. Traders were seen piling position in FMCG, Consumer Durables and Power stocks while selling was witnessed in IT, Realty and Oil & Gas sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) was trading in green after the company announced that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has withdrawn the restrictions placed on purchase of MCX’s shares by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and registered foreign portfolio investors (RPFIs) with immediate effect. Harita Seating Systems was trading firm after the company reported 7-fold rise in net profit figures at Rs 12.85 crore for the quarter ended March 2016 against Rs 1.85 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago. The market may remain volatile this week as traders may roll over positions in the Futures & Options (F&O) segment from the near month i.e. May 2016 series to next month i.e. June 2016 series. The near month May 2016 derivatives contracts will expire on Thursday i.e. May 26, 2016.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green while the European markets traded on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 7,750 and 25,300 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1192:1260 while 173 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25395.87, up by 93.97 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 25235.10 and 25519.26. There were 13 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.36%, while Small cap index up by 0.20%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 2.19%, Consumer Durables up by 0.82%, Power up by 0.74%, Bankex up by 0.51%, Auto up by 0.23% while, IT down by 0.25%, Realty down by 0.17%, Oil & Gas down by 0.07%, Capital Goods down by 0.07%, TECK down by 0.05% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 4.65%, Adani Ports & Special up by 2.25%, ICICI Bank up by 1.57%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.97% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.96%.

On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.21%, ONGC down by 1.64%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.44%, Sun Pharma down by 0.93% and TCS down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency CRISIL in its latest report has said that continuous weakness in oil process may impact remittances from Gulf countries into India. It said that the oil prices are only expected to recover from present. But if the oil prices remain weak for an extended period, they can result in fiscal stress in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and impact inward remittances into India.

It further highlighted that the dip in remittances is lower at 2.2 percent as compared to the 47 percent drop in oil prices. It stressed that remittances from GCC countries have been sticky in the $36-billion range, which has ensured that there is a surplus of $22 billion even after accounting for the trade deficit. However, the agency said that low prices have reduced the India’s trade deficit with GCC countries.

Besides, it said that while falling oil prices have curbed India's exports to GCC, imports from the GCC have also fallen steeply. In the financial year 2016, imports from these countries fell at a faster clip of 34.5 percent. Compared to this, the exports have declined 18.7 percent, while the remittances from the region were also down 2.2 percent to $35.9 billion as compared to the previous year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7783.45, up by 33.75 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 7738.20 and 7820.60. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ITC up by 4.57%, Tata Power up by 2.38%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.33%, Power Grid Corporation of India up by 2.21% and ACC up by 2.16%.

On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.12%, ONGC down by 1.67%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.15%, Bank of Baroda down by 1.00% and SBI down by 0.82% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 4.41 points or 0.27% to 1,633.20, KOSPI Index increased 7.58 points or 0.39% to 1,955.25, Shanghai Composite increased 18.16 points or 0.64% to 2,843.65, Jakarta Composite increased 22.46 points or 0.48% to 4,734.34 and Taiwan Weighted increased 213.18 points or 2.62% to 8,344.44.

On the other hand, Nikkei 225 decreased 81.75 points or 0.49% to 16,654.60 and Hang Seng decreased 43.17 points or 0.22% to 19,809.03.

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 13.8 points or 0.22% to 6,170.12, France’s CAC increased 2.03 points or 0.05% to 4,355.93 and Germany’s DAX increased 44.77 points or 0.45% to 9,960.79.