Indian equity markets sustain gains; Nifty comfortably sails past 5700 mark

Benchmark indices after rebounding in green are currently holding their gains thanks to the stocks belonging to Information Technology, Bankex and Health Care counters, which luring additional traction, continue to feed into strength of Indian equity markets.  Depreciation of Rupee against the dollar is doing well for IT stocks, which derive lion share of their revenue in foreign currency. While, hopes that RBI would go for a rate cut this monetary policy review has kept the trend upbeat for banking shares.  Thus, after bouncing off the day’s low, 30 share index, Sensex is trading above the crucial 18700 mark, while 50 share index, Nifty, too is sailing past the psychological 5700 level . However, broader indices, in absence of any firm cues from global front, have relinquished part of their gains.

On the global front, Asian pacific shares are trading mostly in negative territory as lackluster earnings from leading U.S. companies and a sharp drop in Japan's exports, a key driver of the world's third-biggest economy, dented risk appetites and prompted investors to take profits on recent gains. Meanwhile, European shares were slightly lower after regional elections in Spain highlighted the growing popularity of the pro-independence movement in the Basque Country.

Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18781.58, up by 99.27 points or 0.53%. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 declines on the index.

Amid alternate bouts of buying and selling broader indices have managed to trade in green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were trading up by 0.04% and 0.35% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 1.21%, TECk up by 1.05%, Bankex up by 0.92%, HC up by 0.90% and Oil & Gas up by 0.70%. On the other hand FMCG down by 0.74%, Consumer Durable down by 0.37%, Realty down by 0.15%, CG down by 0.15% and Metal down by 0.13% were the top losers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 3.01%, ICICI Bank up by 2.06%, Dr Reddy’s lab up by 1.64%, NTPC up by 1.62% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.60%.

On the flip side, ITC down by 1.45%, Tata Motors down by 1.04%, Jindal Steel down by 0.97%, Sterlite Industries down by 0.95% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.4% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) putting an end to actions getting delayed for years, has set a one-year target to complete investigations, saying that the long-drawn probe processes are a thing of past and manipulators can’t escape the long arm of the law.

SEBI is targeting not to keep any case pending for beyond a year. SEBI chairman UK Sinha has also warned market manipulators of strong action and has said that market manipulators remaining scot-free or the enforcement actions getting delayed for years are all matters of the past. He said that the regulator will always keep an upper edge over them with a robust surveillance system and safeguard mechanism for the markets and the investors.

On the issue of Mutual Funds, the regulator has said that there is a case for consolidation in the asset management industry owing to the presence of some non-serious players because of very easy entry situation, but clarity on this course will emerge only after the national mutual fund policy is put in place. SEBI has recently announced a slew of reform measures for the mutual fund industry to expand their reach across the country and also to safeguard the interest of investors. At present, there are around 40 mutual fund companies in the country.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5709.25, up by 25.60 points or 0.45%. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were TCS up by 3.09%, ICICI Bank up by 2.08%, NTPC up by 1.68%, M&M up by 1.60%, Dr Reddy up by 1.50%. On the flip side, Ambuja Cement down by 1.74%, Bank of Baroda down by 1.63%, ITC down by 1.34%, Jindal Steel down by 1.21%, Tata Motors down by 1.00% were the major losers on the index.

 Asian markets were trading mixed, Hang Seng was up 0.53% and Shanghai Composite up by 0.13% and Nikkei 225 was up by 0.09% and Straits Times added 0.02%,

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite declined 0.02% KLSE Composite was lower by 0.23%, Kospi Composite lost 0.12% and Taiwan Weighted descended 0.48%.

European markets have got off to a negative start; with CAC 40 declining by 0.48%, FTSE 100 descending by 0.23% and DAX inching lower by 0.22%.