Benchmarks continue firm trade; Nifty prolongs 5,700 mark

Indian equities continued its firm trade in the late afternoon session after hitting highest levels in more than a week on the back of broad based buying. Traders were seen piling some position in Capital Goods, IT and Auto sector. Auto stocks like Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Escorts, Maruti Suzuki India and Mahindra & Mahindra were seen trading firm. The booming October sales numbers was the main reason behind the sharp uptick of Auto counters. In the scrip specific development, Gemini Communications is locked in upper circuit limit on reports that Merrill Lynch has converted 1.97 crore FCCBs at Rs 41.68 per share. Union Bank surged on the back of good set of numbers in the second quarter, its asset quality sustained after disappointing in the last quarter. Industry heavyweight Reliance Industries was trading under pressure on reports that the government has strongly rebutted allegations of granting undue favours to the company adding that the company’s proposal to raise natural gas prices before 2014 was rejected two years ago.

On the global front, most Asian markets were trading in green barring Jakarta Composite and KLSE Composite while the European markets were trading on a mixed note. The euro zone finance ministers urged Greece to finalize the agreement with international lenders before the release of next tranche of loan however the coalition government is not able to muster enough support for the approval in the Parliament. Besides, Greek manufacturing activity declined in October, data from a survey by Markit Economics showed. The seasonally adjusted purchasing managers’ index for the manufacturing sector dropped to 41 in October from 42.2 in September, the lowest in four months. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,700 and 18,700 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1575:1135 while 137 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,778.59, up by 216.89 points or 1.17% after trading in a range of 18,793.75 and 18,687.93. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 declines on the index.

The broader indices too gained additional traction; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices soared by 0.51% and 0.68% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Capital Goods up by 1.77%, IT up by 1.59%, Auto up by 1.55%, TECk up by 1.31%, and FMCG up by 1.27% while there were no losers in sectoral space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 3.09%, Gail India up by 2.98%, L&T up by 2.42%, ITC up by 2.24% and M&M up by 2.20% while, Bharti Airtel down by 0.91%, HUL down by 0.49%, Sun Pharma down by 0.42% and Reliance Industries down by 0.17%.

Meanwhile, in the backdrop of reform measures undertaken by the government to attract more investments, the Finance Minister P Chidambaram has met Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) to make them informed about the current economic situations and on the steps being taken by the government to boost the economic growth.

Representatives from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Blackrock, Goldman Sachs and PE fund T Rowe Price attended the meeting along with the Minister. The Centre has also discussed about the various problems with the regard to implementation of General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR). In the wake of wide protests from various political parties, the government had postponed GAAR implementation, which was introduced by the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his Budget for 2012-13 to check tax evasion.

FIIs have invested about $18 billion so far in the current financial year and have been active in the net buying. After taking charge in the Ministry of Finance in the month of August, Chidambaram had initiated a series of reform measures including relaxing FDI norms for retail, insurance and pension sectors with the aim of garnering more investments into the nation.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,705.00, up by 59.95 points or 1.06% after trading in a range of 5,711.30 and 5,682.55. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Gail India up by 3.10%, Bajaj-Auto up by 3.08%, L&T up by 2.37%, Lupin up by 2.23% and M&M up by 2.13%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.03%, Sun Pharma down by 0.72%, HUL down by 0.64%, JP Associates down by 0.45% and Reliance Industries down by 0.28% were the top losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading mostly in the green; Kospi Composite surged 1.07%, Nikkei 225 soared 1.17%, Taiwan Weighted added 0.43%, Straits Times advanced 0.56%, Shanghai Composite lured gains of 0.60% and Hang Seng accumulated 1.33%, while Jakarta Composite declined by 0.11% and KLSE Composite lost 0.92%.

The European markets were trading on a mixed note with, France’s CAC 40 lost 0.28%, Germany’s DAX ascended 0.05% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 declined 0.24%.