Benchmarks continue firm trade; Nifty above 9150 mark

Indian equity benchmarks continued their firm trade in late morning session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The rupee opened lower against dollar on Friday on account of selling of American currency by banks and exporters. Foreign portfolio investors stood net sellers in domestic equity markets on Thursday as they sold shares worth Rs 564.82 crore with gross purchases and gross sales of Rs 3,838.67 crore and Rs 4,403.49 crore, respectively. Traders were taking support with International Monetary Fund (IMF) report that India’s growth has been ‘impressive’ in the recent years which makes room for tax broadening efforts by the government. The rollout of Goods and Services tax (GST) is an extremely important step that will create a true unified national market in India. Investors took note of global ratings agency Fitch report that Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) updated prompt corrective action (PCA) rules can potentially impact more than half of the NPA-laden state-run banks. It said that more than half of state-owned banks would breach at least one of the new thresholds, mainly owing to high NPLs, based on their latest financial reports.

Traders were seen piling position in Realty, Energy and Consumer Durables stocks, while selling was witnessed in Healthcare and Metal sector stocks. Select jewellery companies like PC Jeweller, Gitanjali Gems and Rajesh Export were trading in green as jewellers are anticipating good retail demand during Akshaya Trititya. In scrip specific development, Diamond Power Infrastructure was trading in red on reporting consolidated net loss of Rs 316.83 crore for the March quarter. The loss was higher than the Rs 203.85 crore the company had posted in the January-March period of the previous financial year, 2015-16. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries was trading in red on reports that the company has received 11 observations from the US health regulator for its Dadra unit. While inspecting the plant, the US Food & Drug Administration found incomplete lab records at the pharma major’s Dadra plant.

On the global front, Asian shares were trading in green, after a strong session in the US amid caution following a suspected terrorist shooting in Paris ahead of the first round of the presidential election at the weekend. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 9,150 and 29,400 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1604:801, while 92 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29483.38, up by 60.99 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 29451.33 and 29584.34. 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 0.37%, while Small cap index was up by 0.84%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.27%, Energy up by 1.23%, Consumer Durables up by 1.06%, Power up by 0.73% and Telecom up by 0.63%, while Healthcare down by 0.39% and Metal down by 0.03% were the only losers on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.78%, NTPC up by 1.53%, ONGC up by 1.20%, Axis Bank up by 0.75% and Asian Paints up by 0.63%.

On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.04%, Cipla down by 1.73%, HDFC down by 0.87%, TCS down by 0.51% and Coal India down by 0.48% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, issuing the regulations and enforcing the legislation, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has notified the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, in its entirety setting a three-month deadline starting May 1 for all state governments to appoint a Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA). So far, only 13 states and union territories have notified rules under RERA while another 15 have prepared draft rules.

As per the regulation, builders, of both new as well as ongoing projects (the ones that have not received completion certificate), will have to mandatorily register their project with the Authority within this period. The three-month deadline is also applicable to real estate agents who also have to register themselves with the Authority.

Under the Act, builders have to deposit 70 per cent of the collected amount in an escrow account to ensure that money is not diverted from one project to another. There will be fines and penalties if the developer does not adhere to delivery guidelines. Besides, promoters will not be able to change a project's design without buyers' consent, and carpet area will carry a uniform definition - a common reason for builder-buyer disputes.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9152.80, up by 16.40 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 9147.25 and 9183.65. There were 32 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 2.77%, Bharti Infratel up by 1.69%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.66%, NTPC up by 1.62% and ONGC up by 1.51%.

On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.14%, Cipla down by 1.72%, Grasim Industries down by 1.58%, HDFC down by 0.93% and ACC down by 0.90% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in green; Shanghai Composite increased 0.61 points or 0.02% to 3,172.71, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 10.25 points or 0.59% to 1,751.86, KOSPI Index increased 18.83 points or 0.88% to 2,167.98, Hang Seng increased 34.21 points or 0.14% to 24,091.19, Jakarta Composite increased 35.59 points or 0.64% to 5,630.89, Taiwan Weighted increased 77.89 points or 0.81% to 9,710.58 and Nikkei 225 increased 151.43 points or 0.82% to 18,581.92.