Indian equities add gains; Nifty above 5,650 mark

Indian equity markets added gains to continue their firm trade in the late afternoon session carrying the strong momentum from the morning trades on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments remained on an optimistic note after a sharp moderation in current account deficit (CAD) for the fourth quarter (Q4). The country’s CAD stood at $18.1 billion or 3.6% of the GDP in the March quarter, sharply lower from the historically high level of 6.7% seen in the December quarter. Traders were seen piling positions in Oil & Gas, Health Care and IT stocks while selling was witnessed in Consumer Durables and Capital Goods sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Reliance Industries (RIL) was trading firm ahead of the government committee meeting scheduled later in the day to contemplate a hike in natural gas prices. Magma Fincorp was trading firm after company decided to make an application for banking license. Religare Enterprises was trading in green after promoters of the company decided to sell 22.75% stake in company to US-based bank Customers Bancorp, to meet RBI norms for banking licence. The market may remain volatile today as traders may roll over positions in the Futures & Options (F&O) segment from the near month i.e. June 2013 series to next month i.e. July 2013 series. The June 2013 F&O contract expires today i.e. June 27, 2013.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in green barring Shanghai Composite while the European markets were trading on mixed note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,650 and 18,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was neutral in the ratio of 1068:1071, while 138 scrips remain unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18845.84, up by 293.72 points or 1.58% after trading in a range of 18,895.19 and 18,688.28. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 declines on the index.

The broader indices were too trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.07% while the Small cap index was up by 0.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Oil & Gas up by 3.18%, Health Care up by 2.83%, IT up by 2.80%, TECK up by 2.24% and Bankex up by 1.30%, while Consumer Durables down by 2.08% and Capital Goods down by 0.06% were the only losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 5.64%, ONGC up by 3.96%, HDFC Bank up by 3.90%, RIL up by 3.54%, TCS up by 3.30%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.87%, Jindal Steel down by 1.96%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.74%, NTPC was down by 0.57% and L&T down by 0.48% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, an inter-ministerial panel which may comprise members from various government departments like department of pharmaceuticals, ministry of health and family welfare, department of industrial policy and promotion and department of commerce is likely to decide soon on the issue of controlling expensive patented drugs prices in the country.

The panel formation was necessitated after the government put in place a new market based method to control prices of 348 essential drugs last month.  As per the pharma department, the panel on the patented drug pricing issue will consult other ministries such as health, DIPP and commerce and a decision on modalities for this would be finalised soon. Presently, there is no mechanism to regulate prices of patented drugs in India.

Earlier in March, an internal committee from department of pharma suggested that the prices of patented drug should be adjusted by taking into account, India's purchasing power parity and to be linked to rates at which governments of UK, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand procure these patented medicines from innovator drug firms. However, the suggestion was rejected because of limitations, as the proposed mechanism would apply only to medicines bought through public procurement and health insurance companies, which was not liked by the public health activists and drug regulatory experts. Further, the committee suggestion also came against linking the marketing approval of a patented drug with prices fixed for procurement citing fears that such a move may threaten availability of such drugs in the country. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,676.30, up by 87.60 points or 1.57% after trading in a range of 5,692.95 and 5,630.95. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Sun Pharma was up by 5.83%, UltraTech Cement up by 4.64%, HDFC Bank up by 4.07%, ONGC up 3.87% and DLF up by 3.77%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.62%, IDFC down by 1.91%, Jindal Steel down by 1.71%, JP Associates down by 1.09%, and IndusInd Bank down by 0.81% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in green; Hang Seng soared 0.50%, Jakarta Composite jumped 2.63%, KLSE Composite increased 0.73%, Nikkei 225 surged 2.96%, Straits Times added 0.75%, KOSPI Composite strengthened 2.87%  and Taiwan Weighted was up 1.27%.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite down by 0.08% was the sole losers amongst Asian pack.

The European markets were trading on a mixed note; France’s CAC 40 was down 0.21%, Germany’s DAX lost 0.07% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 edged higher by 0.34%.