Benchmarks pare minor gains; trade continues in green

Indian equity markets pared minor gains but continue to trade firm in the late afternoon session on account of profit booking in front line counters. The sentiments were on optimistic mood from the early trade after the new governor announced the populist measures in his maiden speech, to support the ailing currency and liberalizing markets, which provided a shot of confidence for investors unnerved by the country’s worst economic crisis in two decades. Traders were seen piling position in Bankex, Realty and Consumer Durables stocks while selling was witnessed in IT, TECK and Health Care sector stocks. In scrip specific development, IPCA Laboratories was trading in green after foreign brokerage firm CITI initiated a buy call on the stock post company receiving final USFDA nod for its Indore manufacturing facility. PSU Oil marketing Companies HPCL, BPCL and IOC were trading in green on firm rupee and as crude oil prices traded near one-week low. 

On the global front, all the Asian markets were trading in green barring Shanghai Composite and Jakarta Composite, while the European markets were too trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,550 and 18,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1348:752, while 138 scrips remain unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18915.00, up by 347.45 points or 1.87% after trading in a range of 19,117.52 and 18,857.60.

The broader indices continued to trade in fine fettle; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were trading higher by 1.60% and 1.33% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Bankex up by 7.95%%, Realty up by 5.17%, Consumer Durables up by 4.25%, PSU up by 3.55% and Capital Goods up by 2.82% while, IT down by 2.75%, TECK down by 2.07% and Health Care down by 0.60% were the only losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were, ICICI Bank up by 9.11%, SBI up by 7.50%, HDFC up by 5.95%, BHEL up by 5.64% and HDFC Bank up by 5.30%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 3.34%, TCS down by 2.89%, Wipro down by 2.88%, Sun Pharma down by 1.99% and Gail India down by 1.69% 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 5,574.45, up by 126.35 points or 2.32% after trading in a range of 5,625.75 and 5,553.75. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Axis Bank up by 13.67%, ICICI Bank up by 9.07%, DLF up by 8.93%, Bank of Baroda up by 8.48% and IndusInd Bank up by 8.45%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 3.57%, TCS down by 3.04%, HCL Technologies down by 2.18%, Sun Pharma down by 2.15% and Lupin down by 2.11% were the major losers on the index.

Most of Asian equity indices were trading in green; Seoul Composite up by 0.96%, Straits Times up by 0.84%, Nikkei 225 was up by 0.08%, Hang Seng up by 1.22%, Taiwan Weighted up by 1.06% and KLSE Composite up by 0.31% while, Shanghai Composite down by 0.24% and Jakarta Composite down by 0.96%.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 was up 0.09%, Germany’s DAX added 0.39% and UK’s FTSE 100 gained 0.82%.