Markets pair slight gains; continue to trade in the green

Indian equity markets paired some of its early gains in the late afternoon session amid selling in banking shares after the Reserve Bank of India’s governor D Subbarao said that the monetary policy transmission is not as agile as needed. Further, fall in rupee value to over 60 against dollar also weighed on the investors’ sentiments. However, frontline gauges continued to trade above their crucial 5,800 (Nifty) and 19,300 (Sensex) bastions as sentiments remained upbeat on the back of continued buying in technology and FMCG stocks. Positive opening in European markets too aided the sentiments. Firm trade in Asian counterparts also improved sentiments buoyed by stronger-than-expected US jobs data. Back home, traders were seen piling positions in IT, Teck, FMCG and Consumer Durables stocks while selling was witnessed in metal, PSU and banking stocks. In scrip specific development, Tata power, ITC, TCS and infosys were trading over 2 percent higher, while BHEL, Tata steel and Sterlite industries were trading lower.

The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1107: 1061, while 129 scrips remain unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19349.88, up by 172.12 points or 0.90% after trading in a range of 19414.50 and 19245.01. There were 17 stocks advancing against 12 declines and one stock remains unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were too trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.25% while the Small cap index was up by 0.05%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 2.54%, Teck up by 2.21%, FMCG up by 1.91%, Consumer Durables up by 1.15% and Realty up by 1.11%, while Metal down by 0.83%, PSU down by 0.45%, Power down by 0.14% and Bankex down by 0.06% were the only losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Power up by 3.33%, ITC up by 3.10%, TCS up by 3.02%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.41% and Infosysup by 2.40%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 2.33%, Sterlite Industries down by 1.60%, Tata Steel down by 1.41%, ONGC was down by 1.24% and Bajaj Auto down by 1.17% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Amid the debate of allowing the corporate to apply for banking licence and with a goal of bringing financial services to millions of Indians, the Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao has said that the decision on this was taken in the favour of national interest and after debating extensively on the matter to allow corporates to apply for new licences.

The central bank has received 26 applications from various large corporates including Tata Group, Reliance Capital and L&T Finance among others. In February, the RBI issued final guidelines that would govern the new set of proposed banks. These included a requirement that the banks have a minimum equity capital of around Rs 5 billion and that they don't have foreign ownership of more than 49% for the first five years of operation. The rules also require that one out of every four branches opened by the new banks be located in rural areas.

The RBI governor on globalization in banking services, said that there is the need to implement global norms like Basel III to globalize banking services as Indian banks go out and open branches abroad and foreign banks come and set up operations inside the country. He also said that India has to learn to manage policy in a globalized world as over the last five years, the world has gone through a financial crisis which has hit every country, showing the ferocious power of globalization.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,810.95, up by 40.05 points or 0.69% after trading in a range of 5,843.95 and 5,786.05. There were 26 stocks advancing against 23 declines and one stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HCL Tech was up by 3.54%, Tata Power up by 3.21%, ITC up by 3.08%, TCS up 3.01% and ACC up by 2.67%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 3.13%, Sesa Goa down by 2.05%, IDFC down by 1.81%, Power Grid down by 1.71%, and Tata Steel down by 1.58% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite rose 0.59%, Hang Seng surged 1.60%, Jakarta Composite increased 0.10%, KLSE Composite rose 0.12%, Straits Times soared 0.66% and KOSPI Composite added 0.79%.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 0.26% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.22%.The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 was up 0.86%, Germany’s DAX up by 0.70% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 edged higher by 0.95%.