Benchmarks continues to trade higher in late morning

Benchmarks continued to trade higher in late morning on speculation that Federal Reserve policy makers won't announce any major changes to monetary stimulus when they conclude a meeting today, October 30, 2013. The US central bank currently buys $85 billion a month in US debt and mortgage-backed securities in a bid to hold interest rates low and encourage economic growth. Fed's bond-buying program has been a source of liquidity for most Asian and emerging markets this year. Investors’ Sentiments boosted after the stock exchanges, in consultation with market watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), have decided to ease the norms to retain up to Rs 10,000 in trading accounts of active customers based on representations received from investors and members.

On the global front, Rally in Asian markets too boosted the traders’ moral with Japanese Nikkei surging about a percentage point after industrial production in Japan climbed a seasonally adjusted 1.5 percent in September compared to the previous month, reversing the previous month’s contraction. Back home, traders were buying, Realty, Healthcare and Teck while selling were seen in Metal, Auto and Oil & Gas on the BSE.

The market breadth on BSE remains positive with advances to declines in the ratio of 998:667. BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty were comfortably trading near their psychological 20,900 and 6,200 levels respectively. The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20994.82, up by 65.81 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 21037.59 and 20937.12. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 declines on the index. The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.48% and Small cap index gained 0.77%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 1.33%, Healthcare up by 0.77%, Teck up by 0.66%, Bankex up by 0.55% and Power up by 0.26%, while Metal down by 0.19%, Auto down by 0.10%, Oil & Gas down by 0.08%, and Capital Goods down by 0.04% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 3.93%, BHEL up by 2.49%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 1.91%, ICICI Bank up by 1.68% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.31%. On the flip side, Wipro was down by 1.40%, Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 1.24%, SSLT was down by 1.05%, Tata Power was down by 0.74%, and  L&T was down by 0.65% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, In a bid to develop the country's corporate bond market, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has relaxed the norms for primary issuance of debt securities by companies.

According to the new measures taken by the SEBI, cash flows generating from the debt securities would have to be disclosed in the prospectus or the disclosure document by way of an illustration. The market regulator has also noted that if the coupon payment date of the debt securities falls on a Sunday or a holiday the payment would be made on the next working day. Furthermore, if the maturity date of the debt securities, falls on a Sunday or a holiday, the redemption proceeds would be paid on the previous working day. These debt securities norms would be applicable to debt securities issued from December 1, 2013.

Moreover, SEBI stressed that the allotment in the public issue of debt securities should be made on the basis of date of upload of each application into the electronic book of the stock exchange. However, on the date of over-subscription, the allotments should be made to the applicants on proportionate basis. Regarding frequent debt issuers, market regulators noted that frequent debt issuers who are in compliance with listing norms, are allowed to disclose unaudited financials with limited review report in the offer document instead of audited results. However, these entities will have to comply with to necessary disclosures including risk factors. These norms would be applicable from November 1, 2013.

In order to enable the investors to forward their grievances to the debenture trustees, the market regulator has asked the companies which have listed their debt securities to disclose the name of the debenture trustees with contact details in their annual report and on their websites from December 1.  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,240.15 up by 19.25 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 6,253.65 and 6,222.60. There were 27 stocks advancing against 22 declines  while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 4.34%, BHEL up by 2.53%, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories up by 1.96%, ICICI Bank up by 1.87% and Lupin up by 1.64%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 1.63%, M&M down by 1.40%, SSLT down by 1.00% , JP Associaties  down by 0.97% and Tata Power down by 0.74% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite surged 16.21 points or 0.76% to 2,145.07, Hang Seng strengthened 196.85 points or 0.86% to 23,043.39, Nikkei 225 soared 136.04 points or 0.95% to 14,462.02, Straits Times increased 7.80 points or 0.24% to 3,216.62, Seoul Composite gained 0.86 points or 0.04% to 2,052.62 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 10.31 points or 0.12% to 8,431.29.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite declined 4.20 points or 0.09% to 4,558.57 and KLSE Composite was down by 2.07 points or 0.11% to 1,813.58