Benchmarks add gains; Capital Goods, Auto leads

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 and taking cues from global counterparts. The sentiments were on upbeat mood on expectations of a narrower trade deficit and receding concerns about Syria, which helped the currency continue its recent recovery from record lows hit last month. Traders were seen piling positions in Capital Goods, Auto and FMCG stocks. In scrip specific development, telecom stocks Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications, TTML and MTNL were trading in green after Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommended steep cuts in reserve prices for the next round of spectrum auctions. Indraprastha Gas was trading in green after the company hiked the price of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) by a steep Rs 3.70 per kg in Delhi from September 7 midnight. Larsen and Toubro (L&T) was trading firm continuing its upward journey for the fourth consecutive session after Goldman Sachs added the company to its conviction buy list. Tata Motors rallied after its UK subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) reported record sales performance in August.

On the global front, all the Asian markets were trading in green while the European markets were too trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,850 and 19,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1379:724, while 127 scrips remain unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19901.20, up by 631.14 points or 3.28% after trading in a range of 19908.93 and 19,444.66. There were only 27 stocks advancing against only 3 declines on the index.

The broader indices were too trading in green; the BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap indices were trading up by 1.36% and 1.01% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Capital Goods up by 5.52%, Auto up by 5.19%, FMCG up by 4.83%, Consumer Durables up by 3.89% and Power up by 2.86% while there were no losers in this space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were, Tata Motors up by 9.35%, L&T up by 6.98%, Hindustan Unilever up by 6.11%, HDFC up by 5.89% and ITC up by 5.52%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.75%, GAIL India down by 0.43% and TCS down 0.03% were the only losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, amid rising debt flows, deceleration in GDP growth and depreciating rupee, the country’s key external debt indicators witnessed some deterioration in FY13. India's external debt stock increased by 13% to $390 billion in the reported fiscal as against $345.5 billion in FY12 as the country scrambled to raise quick funds to meet the record high current account deficit. Indian external debt to GDP ratio also went up to 21.2% in the FY13 against 19.7% in FY12. The country debt rose mainly due to increase in short term debt, commercial borrowings and non-resident Indian deposits.

The share of short-term debt to total debt country rose to 24.8% at the end of 2012-13 from 22.6% a year ago, while share of concessional debt in the total debt dropped. However, magnitude of increase in external debt was offset to some extent due to gain resulting from appreciation of the US dollar against Indian rupee and other international currencies. Referring to the currency composition to the total debt, the US dollar denominated debt continued to be the largest component with a share of 57.2%, followed by rupee (24%), special drawing rights SDR (7.5%), Japanese yen (6.3%) and euro (3.5%).

Meanwhile, NRI deposits increased by $12.2 billion to $70.8 billion at end-March 2013 primarily due to increase in rupee denominated NRI deposits. The ratio of foreign exchange reserves to external debt at end-March 2013 at 74.9% was lower than the level of end-March 2012 at 85.2%.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,862.45, up by 182.05 points or 3.20% after trading in a range of 5,864.60 and 5,738.20. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Tata Motors up by 9.53%, JP Associates up by 7.25%, L&T up by 6.94%, Hindustan Unilever up by 6.17% and HDFC up by 6.11%. On the flip side, Cairn India down by 2.54%, BPCL down by 1.27%, Lupin down by 0.88%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.79% and GAIL India down by 0.37% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in green; Seoul Composite up by 0.98%, Straits Times up by 0.75%, Hang Seng up by 0.99%, KLSE Composite up by 0.92%, Shanghai Composite up by 1.15% , Nikkei 225 was up by 1.54%, Jakarta Composite up by 3.06% and Taiwan Weighted up by 0.20%.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 was up 1.14%, Germany’s DAX added 1.55% and UK’s FTSE 100 gain 0.83%.