Markets continue firm trade in afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued their firm trade in the late afternoon session amid buying in banking and realty stocks. Investor sentiments also got a boost as rupee recovered against the dollar after RBI's new governor unveiled fresh measures to check the rupee depreciation and to boost the overseas inflows. Further, investors’ sentiments were boosted by the pension bill, which was passed in the parliament yesterday. The bill allows 26% foreign investment in the Pension sector and gives statutory backing to the interim pension authority that had been functioning on executive authority for over a decade now. Buying was also witnessed in finance, FMCG and PSE stocks. On stock specific movement, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI were trading over 5 percent higher, while, Infosys and TCS were trading over 2 percent lower on BSE. The market breadth was positive. Out of 1,886 stocks traded, 1180 stocks advanced while 590 stocks declined on the BSE. On global front, Asian markets were also trading in green.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,982.04 up by 414.49 points or 2.23% after trading in a range of 19,117.52 and 18,857.60. There were only 24 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.34%, while Small cap index also up by 1.00%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Bankex up by 7.25%, Consumer Durables up by 4.79%, Realty up by 3.80% and FMCG up by 3.47%. While, IT down by 2.42% and Teck down by 1.57% on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were, ICICI Bank up by 7.58%, HDFC up by 5.83%, HDFC Bank up by 5.81%, SBI up by 5.63% and ITC up by 5.07%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.77%, TCS down by 2.72%, Wipro down by 1.98%, Gail India down by 1.06% and Mahindra and Mahindra down by 0.43% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, global rating agency Moody's has said that India's inflation and fiscal metrics remain weaker than its peer countries. Further, the rating agency said that a higher subsidy burden and lower growth will weaken the country's fiscal metrics, however, it added that the country's current reserves can finance the current account and external debt payment needs.

In January, Moody’s had reaffirmed ‘Baa3’ (which is equivalent to BBB minus) sovereign credit rating for India that indicates investment grade but with a stable outlook. The rating agency had already raised concerns over the impact of the subsidy outgo for the Food Security Bill and had said that the bill with an annual $20 billion budget will widen the country’s fiscal deficit. Meanwhile, the government has set the target to contain the country’s fiscal deficit at 4.8 percent of GDP in FY14.

Moody’s had also highlighted inadequate infrastructure a constraint for India's sovereign rating adding that inefficient infrastructure have been impacting India’s growth potential as well as the competitiveness of its export and import-competing sectors, contributing to high current account deficits (CAD).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,593.35 up by 145.25 points or 2.67% after trading in a range of 5,625.75 and 5,553.75. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Axis bank up by 11.47%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 9.04%, Indusind Bank up by 8.86%, ICICI Bank up by 8.03% and HDFC Bank up by 6.36%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 3.11%, TCS down by 3.00%, HCL Tech down by 1.48%, Gail India down by 1.16 and Ranbaxy down by 0.71% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in green; Seoul Composite up by 0.96%, Straits Times up by 1.14%, Nikkei 225 was up by 0.08%, Hang Seng up by 1.51%, Jakarta Composite up by 0.64%, Taiwan Weighted up by 1.06% and KLSE Composite up by 0.35%.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite down by 0.05%.