Benchmarks remain range bound; trade marginally in green

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in narrow range amid volatility, but managed to keep its head tad above water in afternoon session as buying was witnessed in consumer durables, capital goods and oil and gas stocks. Firm Asian cues provided some support to the investors’ sentiments. Meanwhile, investors opted to remain on sidelines ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's second quarter monetary policy meet on October 29 and US Federal policy meet ending on October 30. On stock specific front, HUL up by over 1.50% on BSE as the company's sales volumes in the September quarter grew 5 percent, in line with market estimates. On the other hand, ITC was trading lower by over 2.50% on BSE after reporting lower than expected revenue and net profit growth for the second quarter ended September 2013.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green with Shanghai Composite up by 0.16% and Japanese index Nikki up by 2.19% as global risk appetite has improved amid hopes that the Federal Reserve will maintain its stimulus. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,100 and 20,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,066 stocks traded, 967 stocks advanced, while 964 stocks declined on the BSE.      

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20,733.85 up by 50.33 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 20,771.36 and 20,688.78. There were only 19 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.06%, while Small cap index up by 0.03%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.73%, Capital Goods up by 1.34%, Oil and Gas up by 1.08%, Auto up by 0.79%, and Bankex up by 0.51%. While, FMCG down by 1.63%, Healthcare down by 0.71%, Realty down by 0.55%, Metal down by0.42% and Teck down by 0.37% were losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were L&T up by 2.10%, ICICI Bank up by 1.60%, RIL up by 1.54%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.54% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.40%. On the flip side, ITC down by 2.76%, SSLT down by 1.19%, Coal India down by 1.11%, Sun Pharma down by 1.08% and Cipla down by 0.82% were the only losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, with an aim to provide houses at affordable prices to the people and to attract more foreign investment into country’s construction development sector, the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) has finalised the Cabinet note on relaxing norms for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the construction sector including townships, housing and built-up infrastructure. The views received from various departments and ministries such as the finance and home affairs ministries, ministry of housing and poverty alleviation and planning commission have been assimilated in the final draft note. The DIPP will soon circulate the draft note to Cabinet for approval.

The draft note proposed easing the three-year lock-in period for FDI in housing and townships, and also sought reduction in the minimum capitalization to $5 million from the present $10 million for wholly-owned subsidiaries. Further, the note has suggested a cut in the minimum built-up area of 50,000 sq mts to 20,000 sq mts of carpet area in case of construction development projects.

India has received FDI worth $22.24 billion during the period from April 2000 to June 2013, in construction development sector, accounting for 11 per cent of the total FDI that came into India. However, foreign investments in the sector has started drying up since 2012 as the government has also imposed several conditions on it despite allowing 100 percent FDI in construction development sector. FDI in Indian construction sector declined by 52 percent to Rs 7,248 crore in FY13 from Rs 15,236 crore recorded in the FY12. During the April-July, 2013 FDI in construction sector stood at Rs 2,092 crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,150.75 up by 5.85 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 6,168.75 and 6,141.45. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 decline on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were L&T up by 2.08%, ICICI Bank up by 1.59%, Reliance up by 1.48%, Axis Bank up by 1.46% and ONGC up by 1.44%. On the flip side, ITC down by 2.82%, Bank of Baroda down by 2.30%, JP Associate down by 1.86%, HCL Tech down by 1.65% and SSLT down by 1.31% was the major loser on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in Green; Taiwan Weighted up by 0.73%, Seoul Composite up by 0.68%, Straits Times up by 0.35%, Shanghai Composite up by 0.16%, Hang Seng up by 0.59%, Jakarta Composite up by 0.21%, KLSE Composite up by 0.06% and Nikki 225 up by 2.19%.