Firm trade prevails; Nifty above 5,650 mark

Indian equity markets added gains to continue firm trade hovering near the highest point of the day in the late afternoon session on account of buying in front line counters. The mood on the street was upbeat for third consecutive session, after the action packed speech on Wednesday by the new Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, who detailed the roadmap for reforms. Traders were seen piling position in Capital Goods, Power and Bankex stocks while selling was witnessed in Consumer Durables sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Aviation stocks Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways and SpiceJet was trading firm as these companies have recently announced a steep hike in airfares to mitigate the impact of the sharp fall in the rupee and surge in jet fuel prices. Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) was trading in green as Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) revoked the curbs it had imposed on the telecom operator, its directors and promoters, for non-compliance with minimum public shareholding norms.

On the global front, all the Asian markets were trading in green barring Nikkei 225 and Taiwan Weighted while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,650 and 19,200 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1224:865, while 142 scrips remain unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19231.87, up by 252.11 points or 1.33% after trading in a range of 19249.35 and 18929.38. There were only 24 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.

The broader indices were too trading in green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indexes were up by 0.51% and 0.66% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Capital Goods up by 2.40%, Power up by 1.99%, Bankex up by 1.73%, Oil & Gas up by 1.56% and PSU up by 1.44% while, Consumer Durables down by 0.36% was the sole loser on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were, ICICI Bank up by 5.39%, Bharti Airtel up by 4.94%, ONGC up by 4.19%, BHEL up by 3.90%, and Jindal Steel up by 3.82%. On the flip side, Tata Power down by 1.79%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.32%, Coal India down by 1.29%, Mahindra and Mahindra down by 0.61% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.47% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, enthused by the pro-reform approach adopted by new RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, the industry body, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) expects that the central bank would shift focus towards an expansionary monetary policy by cutting interest rates which in turn would spur investments and bring back economic growth. CII president K Gopalakrishnan said that various reforms suggested by the RBI governor including financial inclusion, facilitating investment flows, promoting financial savings, addressing the rupee depreciation and rising inflation are timely and reflect an innovative approach to tackle the hurdles facing the economy and revive investor confidence. 

Raghuram Rajan, after taking charge as the 23rd Governor of the central bank has laid out a detailed roadmap for his innings in the short-term and came out with a slew of measures, including more trade settlement in rupees to rescue the battered financial markets and hinted at a shift in focus from inflation control pursued by his predecessor, to boost the economic growth, which slowed down to the four year low at 4.4 percent in the April -June quarter of this fiscal.

Gopalakrishnan further said that amidst various degrees of uncertainty owing to an array of global and domestic issues that the industry in India is faced with today, the RBI can be a pillar of strength and provide direction and the RBI Governor’s statement on the issue of internationalization of the Rupee and capital inflows,  is indicative of bold thinking.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,663.55, up by 70.60 points or 1.26% after trading in a range of 5,673.80 and 5,566.15. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 5.44%, ICICI Bank up by 5.16%, Grasim up by 4.70%, Ultratech Cement up by 4.52% and IndusInd Bank up by 3.95%. On the flip side, Bank of Baroda down by 3.59%, Lupin down by 1.82%, Cairn India down by 1.64%, Coal India down by 1.62% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.49% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mostly in green; Seoul Composite up by 0.19%, Straits Times up by 0.30%, Hang Seng up by 0.10%, KLSE Composite up by 0.16%, Shanghai Composite up by 0.83% and Jakarta Composite up by 0.24%. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 1.45% and Taiwan Weighted down by 0.06%.

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 was down 0.01%, Germany’s DAX lost 0.26% and UK’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.11%.