Benchmarks trade firm; Realty, Auto lead

Indian equity benchmarks continued their firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments were on firm note with report that India’s current account deficit narrowed sharply to $0.3 billion or 0.1 percent of GDP in the fourth quarter of FY2015-16 ended March 31, 2016 from the $7.1 billion or 1.3 percent in the third quarter, mainly on account of lower trade deficit. Traders were seen piling position in Realty, Auto and FMCG stocks while selling was witnessed in Capital Goods, Power and Oil & Gas sector stocks. Hectic selling was witnessed in sugar stocks following the announcement of a 20 percent export duty on sugar to boost domestic supply and check prices. Realty stocks were trading on firm note on reports that SEBI’s board is looking to examine a proposal to make Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) more attractive to investors by allowing them to invest a large portion of funds in under-construction assets. In scrip specific development, Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) was trading in green as the company has sought shareholders’ nod to divest 1,000 mega watt (MW) power plant of a subsidiary company and sale of its 920 MW captive power plants. V-Guard Industries was trading in green after the Kochi-based company’s board approved a 1: 10 stock split proposal.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in green while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,150 and 26,600 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1293:1134 while 186 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26646.42, up by 120.96 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 26580.57 and 26730.55. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.05%, while Small cap index up by 0.32%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.81%, Auto up by 0.76%, FMCG up by 0.68%, Consumer Durables up by 0.50% and PSU up by 0.38%, while Capital Goods down by 0.14%, Power down by 0.05% and Oil & Gas down by 0.05% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 2.56%, Tata Motors up by 2.04%, Coal India up by 1.89%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.73% and ITC up by 1.47%.

On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.30%, Tata Steel down by 1.20%, Asian Paints down by 1.16%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.08% and ICICI Bank down by 0.98% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Ministry ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament next month has begun preparatory work on the first Supplementary Demand for Grants, which are likely to be capped at about Rs. 25,000 crore.

The Ministry stated that “The proposals along with the draft statement justifying Supplementary Demands to be included and appropriate background notes may be forwarded to the Budget Division.” Ministry further added, all proposals must be submitted by June 24.

In the first Supplementary Demand for Grants only urgent proposals relating to, advances from Contingency Fund, payments against court decrees and specific proposals already approved by the government should be taken into consideration, as in the financially challenging year the ministry remained stressed. Besides, all other cases may be withheld and move over to the next batch of Supplementary Demands for the current financial year.

The ministry has re-iterated its earlier instructions that efforts must be made to use internal savings and scrupulously scrutinise proposals before forwarding them. The objective is to keep additional expenditure at the minimum at present and try to use the funds already allocated in the Union Budget. The Centre's total expenditure in 2016-17 is pegged at Rs. 19.78 lakh crore, which includes Rs 5.50 lakh crore under Plan and Rs 14.28 lakh crore under Non-Plan spending.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8168.25, up by 27.50 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 8148.40 and 8195.25. There were 25 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC up by 2.62%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.27%, Tata Motors up by 2.17%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.77% and Coal India up by 1.71%.

On the flip side, Tata Power down by 3.67%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.91%, Tata Steel down by 1.45%, Sun Pharma down by 1.40% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.10% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in green; KOSPI Index increased 1.41 points or 0.07% to 1,953.40, Jakarta Composite increased 4.17 points or 0.09% to 4,818.56, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 7.72 points or 0.48% to 1,622.62, Shanghai Composite increased 12.29 points or 0.43% to 2,885.11, Taiwan Weighted increased 73.94 points or 0.87% to 8,568.08, Hang Seng increased 131.56 points or 0.66% to 20,169.98 and Nikkei 225 increased 165.52 points or 1.07% to 15,599.66.

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 60.52 points or 1.02% to 6,011.00, France’s CAC increased 43.5 points or 1.05% to 4,196.51 and Germany’s DAX increased 94.24 points or 0.99% to 9,644.71.