Benchmarks continue firm trade in late morning session

After getting a gap-up start, Indian benchmark indices continue to trade in fine fettle in late morning deals on sustained buying by foreign funds and retail investors in frontline blue-chip stocks.  Sentiments got a boost with the report that exports snapped18-month downward spiral and rose by 1.27% in June 2016. Exports in June was $22.5 billion compared with $22.2 billion in the year ago period while imports declined by 7.33% to $30.6 billion from $33.1 billion in June 2015. Buying activity also gathered momentum after RIL, operator of the world’s largest single location refinery complex, reported an 18 per cent jump in June quarter net profit. Further, some support also came with the industry chamber CII’s report indicating that Indian industry remained upbeat about the business environment in the first quarter ended June owing to salary hikes recommended by the Seventh Pay Commission, progress of monsoons and the government's proactive reforms agenda. The CII Business Confidence Index (BCI) has improved to 57.2 in April-June 2016, from 54.1 in the previous quarter. However, investors remained cautious with the Monsoon session of the Parliament starting from today with key economic bills including the long pending GST Bill to be passed. According to reports, the Opposition is likely to take aim at the government on several issues, including the recent Supreme Court verdict on Arunachal Pradesh, the recent developments regarding the Uniform Civil Code and India's unsuccessful bid to gain membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed on Monday as the geopolitical developments in Turkey weighed on investor sentiment. Turkey has arrested 6,000 people after a failed coup attempt, with President Erdogan vowing to purge state bodies of the ‘virus’ that caused the revolt. Further, China stocks dipped weighed down by property and financial shares after data showed gains in home prices were slowing. Meanwhile, US markets took a breadther to end flat on Friday after sharp gains in the previous sessions which lifted the benchmark indices, Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500, to fresh record highs.

Back home, stocks from Auto, Realty and Banking counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Consumer Durables and FMCG counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, Axis Bank has surged after RBI has notified that FIIs/(RFPIs can now invest from existing 62% up to 74% of the paid up capital of Axis Bank under the PIS. Moreover, LT Foods has rallied after the company announced that it acquired iconic brand 817 Elephant rice through its United Kingdom (UK) subsidiary LT Foods International.

The market breadth remained optimistic as there were 1491 shares on the gaining side against 736 shares on the losing side, while 117 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27997.73, up by 161.23 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 27918.48 and 28013.50. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.43%, while Small cap index up by 0.74%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.41%, Realty up by 1.26%, Bankex up by 0.94%, Capital Goods up by 0.55%, Oil & Gas up by 0.51%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.13%, FMCG down by 0.10% and TECK down by 0.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 2.25%, Tata Motors up by 2.15%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.84%, Asian Paints up by 1.79% and Reliance Industries up by 1.67%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.57%, ONGC down by 1.32%, NTPC down by 0.86%, Wipro down by 0.84% and Cipla down by 0.53% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Oil marketing companies (OMCs) reduced prices of petrol and diesel for the second time in the month, on global cues. Prices of petrol were cut by Rs 2.25 a litre and diesel by 42 paise a litre. The price cut is inclusive of state levies and varies from State to State and was effective midnight July 15/16.

Following the revision one litre of Petrol in the national capital now cost Rs 62.51 a litre as compared to Rs 64.76 per litre previously. Similarly, petrol in Kolkata will cost Rs 66.03 per litre, in Mumbai by Rs 67.11 per litre and in Chennai RS 64.00 a litre. Besides, diesel in Delhi will cost Rs 54.28 per litre as against Rs 54.70 a litre currently. Diesel in Kolkata will cost Rs 56.48 per litre, in Mumbai by RS 59.60 a litre and in Chennai Rs 55.82 a litre.

As per the fortnightly revision of fuel prices, the prices were last time revised on July 1 in which the cost of petrol was cut by Rs 0.89 per litre and diesel by Rs 0.49 a litre. Prior to the reduction this month, prices had been hiked on four occasions since May 1. Petrol prices in the four hikes had been raised by Rs 4.52 a litre and diesel by Rs 7.72 per litre.

According to IOC the country's largest fuel retailer, the hike in prices is due to the movement in the international oil market and INR-USD exchange rate. It further said that the current level of international product prices of Petrol and Diesel and the Rupee-Dollar exchange rate warrant increase in price of Petrol and Diesel, the impact of which is being passed on to the consumers with this price revision.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8581.35, up by 39.95 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 8558.45 and 8585.35. There were 34 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 1.98%, Tata Motors up by 1.88%, Asian Paints up by 1.75%, Reliance Industries up by 1.75% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.64%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.58%, ONGC down by 1.28%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 0.93%, Wipro down by 0.91% and Grasim Industries down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Jakarta Composite increased 0.32%, Hang Seng gained 0.18% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.47%.On the flip side, Shanghai Composite decreased 0.11%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI shed 0.17% and KOSPI Index was down by 0.1%.