Benchmarks extend gains in afternoon session

Indian equity markets extended gains and reached at their intra-day high level in afternoon session amid value-buying witnessed in auto and banking stocks. Shares of auto makers are in focus on the hopes of a stimulus package from the government to revive the sector. Further, investors’ sentiments also remained high on the hopes that new RBI governor Raghuram Rajan will loosen monetary policy to pick up the economic growth and will take fresh measures to check the rupee depreciation. Moreover, buying was also witnessed in service, PSE and Infra stocks. On stock specific movement, BHEL, Tata Motors and Hindalco Inds were trading over 4 percent higher, while, Maruti Suzuki and ITC were only stock in red on BSE. On global front, most of the Asian markets were trading mixed amid concerns of US moving closer to strike Syria. Back home, the market breadth was positive. Out of 1,907 stocks traded, 1178 stocks advanced while 612 stocks declined on the BSE.    

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,592.98 up by 358.32 points or 1.97% after trading in a range of 18607.23 and 18,188.43. There were only 28 stocks advancing against 2 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.88%, while Small cap index also up by 0.68%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, oil and Gas up by 3.15%, Auto up by 2.63%, Metal up by 2.55% and Bankex up by 2.46%. While, Realty down by 0.73% on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were, Tata Motors up by 5.30%, BHEL up by 4.48%, Hindalco Inds up by 4.12%, Hero Moto Corp up by 3.78% and RIL up by 3.63%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.35% and ITC down by 1.24% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, concerned over the fast deteriorating economic fundamentals of the country, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) recommended ten-point agenda for economic revival to the Government and said that specific steps are urgently required to stimulate growth and to improve investor sentiments. Praising government actions to counter the economic downswing, CII president Kris Gopalakrishnan said that CII, in its ten-point agenda, has recommended a comprehensive set of actions to the government to pick up the economic growth, which slowed down to four year low at 4.4 percent in Q1 FY14.    

CII firstly suggested the government that there is the need to contain Current Account Deficit (CAD) and said that at present, India is losing out to other manufacturing nations, therefore, it is imperative to restore global competitiveness of its exports by restoring strong marketing action in new markets and slash transaction costs. CII’s second agenda focuses on the fiscal consolidation and points towards the Food Security Bill, which will enhance Government expenditure. In third agenda, CII recommended that there is the need to increase availability and reduce cost of capital. It added that RBI's steps to keep interest rates high has made investments unviable, thus it has advised to reduce interest rates by 100 basis points. In fourth and five steps, the CII recommended for promoting investments and stimulating demand by reviving mining projects, invest in public sector savings and implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Further, in other steps, CII suggested the government to focus on the issue of managing volatility in the rupee, mobilizing financial savings and strengthen the power sector. It also recommendation to incentivize Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) through a range of interventions including finance, technology and export promotion. Further, CII said that the government should focus on the implementation of these agendas to revive the economic growth through consistent, transparent and stable tax policy regime.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,449.20 up by 107.75 points or 2.02% after trading in a range of 5,459.70 and 5,318.90. There were 46 stocks advancing against 4 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Ranbaxy up by 6.26%, Inndusind Bank up by 5.94%,Tata Motors up by 5.23%, BHEL up by 4.70% and Hindalco up by 4.21%. On the flip side, DLF down by 2.04%, Maruti down by 1.76%, ITC down by 0.80% and Power grid down by 0.68% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Seoul Composite up by 0.11%, Straits Times up by 0.79%, Shanghai Composite up by 0.25%, and Nikkei 225 was up by 0.32%. While, Hang Seng down by 0.07%, Jakarta Composite down by 1.98%, Taiwan Weighted down by 0.06% and KLSE Composite down by 0.47%.