Benchmarks trade jubilantly in early deals; Nifty hits record high

Indian equity benchmarks have made a gap-up opening with Nifty hitting fresh record high tracking global cues as US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen made the well-anticipated move of increased rates by 25 bps in its effort to return monetary policy to a more normal footing. Traders also took some encouragement with reports of India's exports exhibiting a double digit growth of 17.48 percent, valued at $ 24.5 billion in February compared to $ 20.84 billion during the same month last year on increase in shipments of non-petroleum, non gems and jewellery products. Some support also came with report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,141.13 crore, while Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) also bought shares worth a net Rs 126.75 crore on March 15.

Global cues too provided strength to domestic bourses with Asian markets rallying at this point of time after the US Federal Reserve hiked interest rates, as expected, but signalled ‘gradual’ rises. The US markets bounced back in last session; with all the major bourses posting gains of over half a percent.

Back home, there was broad based buying witnessed in the markets and apart from the blue chips, the broader markets too participated strongly in the rally. The market breadth remained in favor of advances, as there were 1,536 shares on the gaining side against 538 shares on the losing side while 91 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29590.75, up by 192.64 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 29482.83 and 29614.79. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged 0.99%, while Small cap index was up by 0.91%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.67%, Capital Goods up by 1.32%, Industrials up by 1.31%, Basic Materials up by 1.18% and IT was up by 1.12%, while Telecom down by 0.07% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports up by 3.58%, Tata Steel up by 2.41%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.66%, Infosys up by 1.27% and Wipro was up by 1.27%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 0.67%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.50% and Reliance Industries down by 0.31% were the few losers.

Meanwhile, after hitting a 43-month low in the month of December, the share of foreign portfolio investments (FPI) in domestic capital markets through participatory notes (P-notes) has surged to Rs 1.75 lakh crore at the end of January. According to Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) data, total value of P-note investments in Indian markets including equity, debt and derivatives, at January-end, has climbed to Rs 1,75,088 crore, from Rs 1,57,306 crore at the end of December.

Of the total, P-note holdings in equities at January-end were at Rs 108,576 crore, while in debts and derivatives were at Rs 10,733 crore and Rs 55,779 crore respectively. The quantum of FPI investments via P-notes increased to 7.1 percent in January, from 6.7 percent in the preceding month. However, in December, investment through P-notes was the lowest since July 2013, when the aggregate value of such investment stood at Rs 148,188 crore. Investment through the route had been declining since September last year when it was at Rs 212,509 crore. It fell to Rs 199,987 crore at October-end and further to Rs 179,648 crore in November.

Markets regulator SEBI had said that steps taken by it on P-notes are 'sufficient enough' to address the concerns of Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money, but the regulator is open to further suggestions. It had asserted that consistent tightening of norms has made these instruments less attractive. P-notes are typical instruments issued by registered FPIs to overseas investors who wish to participate in Indian markets without registering themselves directly in the country to save time. But they still need to go through a proper due diligence process.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9145.95, up by 61.15 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 9128.55 and 9152.90. There were 48 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports up by 3.24%, Tata Steel up by 2.61%, HCL Tech up by 1.81%, Hindalco up by 1.62% and Tata Motors - DVR was up by 1.52%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 0.80%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.56% and Reliance Industries down by 0.38% were the few losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; KOSPI Index increased 11.64 points or 0.55% to 2,144.64, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 15.42 points or 0.9% to 1,732.78, Nikkei 225 rose 19.12 points or 0.1% to 19,596.50, Shanghai Composite jumped 21.32 points or 0.66% to 3,263.08, Jakarta Composite surged 55.77 points or 1.03% to 5,488.15, Taiwan Weighted added 88.89 points or 0.91% to 9,829.20 and Hang Seng was up by 311.21 points or 1.31% to 24,104.06.