Benchmarks continue to trade in green

Indian equities held on to their gains while trading in small range as traders speculating the exhaustion or extension of the current rally have build up positions both ways in the late morning session. Sentiment have remained firm on hopes of encouraging Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data for March to be released later this week and a firm trend in the Asian trade. Strong FII flows have added to bullish sentiments in equities, while a surge in global stocks on the back of upbeat U.S. labour force report has added legs to the current rally.

On the global front, most of the Asian equity indices were trading in fine fettle in Tuesday’s morning trade after the European Central Bank said it is ready to cut interest rates further. Japanese Nikkei stock average opened higher by over three percent, resuming trade after a four-day long weekend.

Back home, the traders were seen piling up positions in Realty, Health Care and FMCG, while selling was seen in Consumer Durables and IT sector. In scrip specific actions, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals gained ahead of its January-March earnings later in the day. Emami zoomed after the FMCG firm reported 29.8% jump in its net profit at Rs 93.97 crore for the fourth quarter ending March 31, 2013, on back of 13.1% jump in revenue at Rs 450.95 crore. Den Network rose after the Cable television services firm plans to raise around $160 million (about Rs 865 crore) through issue of shares to institutional investors, including $110 million from the Goldman Sachs Group. DLF surged after the real estate firm said that it is planning to sell up to 81 million shares and has mandated eight banks for the institutional placement sale. South Indian Bank soared after the bank reported over 26 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 153.83 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2013, mainly on the back of an improved net interest margin. Omaxe gained after the realty player said its promoters are planning to launch an offer for sale (OFS) to comply with the Sebi's minimum public shareholding norms. Adani Power dropped after the company reported Rs 586 crore net loss for the fourth quarter ended March 31, primarily due to higher cost of imported fuel.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading just above their psychological 6,000 and 19,700 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was showing positive trend with advances to declines in ratio of 1010: 638.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19776.15, up by 102.51 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 19806.06 and 19697.33. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.62% and Small cap index was up by 0.60%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 1.12%, Health Care up by 1.02%, FMCG up by 1.02%, Bankex up by 0.90% and Capital Goods up by 0.88% while, Consumer Durables down by 0.16% and IT down by 0.05% were the losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.01%, ICICI Bank up by 1.71%, ITC up by 1.59%, Hindalco Industries up by 1.58% and BHEL up by 1.40%. On the flip side, Coal India was down by 1.44%,  Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 1.20%, Wipro was down by 1.13%, HDFC was down by 0.52%, and Bajaj Auto was down by 0.34% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, In order to expand the role of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in rural economy and to benefit the larger section of the farmer population in the country, the Government has introduced bill in parliament to raise the authorised capital four times to Rs 20,000 crore. The bill further proposes creation of the National Rural Credit Fund for providing financial assistance by way of loans and advances.

Further, the amended NABARD Bill 2013 also made provisions for change of ownership of remaining one percent equity of NABARD from the RBI to the Government of India (GOI). The Bill proposes to enlarge the meaning of cooperative society to include multi-state cooperative societies registered under any central law and state law. If the proposed changes made in the Act, NABARD, would be able to undertake short term lending operations.

NABARD is set up as an apex Development Bank with a mandate for facilitating credit flow for promotion and development of agriculture, small-scale industries, cottage and village industries, handicrafts and other rural crafts. It also has the mandate to support all other allied economic activities in rural areas, promote integrated and sustainable rural development and secure prosperity of rural areas.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,005.95 up by 34.90 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 6,011.10 and 5,982.95. There were 35 stocks advancing against 14 declines while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were DLF up by 2.02%, NTPC up by 1.97%, Lupin up by 1.92%, IDFC up by 1.90% and ICICI Bank up by 1.86%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.74%, M&M down by 1.35%, Power Grid down by 1.25%, Ambuja Cements down by 1.10% and HDFC down by 0.60% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite rose 0.34 points or 0.02% to 2,231.51, Hang Seng increased 37.86 points or 0.17% to 22,952.95, Jakarta Composite jumped 38.77 points or 0.78% to 5,030.64, KLSE Composite surged 15.23 points or 0.87% to 1,767.25, Nikkei 225 soared 427.90 points or 3.56% to 14,181.21 and Straits Times was up by 9.35 points or 0.31% to 3,391.74.

On the flip side, KOSPI Composite declined 6.16 points or 0.31% to 1,955.32 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 3.61 points or 0.04% to 8,165.44.