Benchmarks came off day's high; continue to trade in green

Indian equity benchmarks came off their day's highs in early afternoon session as investors booked profits at higher levels. However, markets continued to trade in green amid buying witnessed in rate sensitive stocks such as banking, realty and auto. Investors’ sentiments got a boost with the core industries growing at 11 months high at 8% in September against 3.7% growth in the previous month, on account of good performance by crude oil, steel and electricity sector. Foreign institutional investors were net buyers for the 18th straight day during the month of October. FIIs have pumped more than Rs 86,000 crore in Indian stocks during 2013. On sectoral front, shares of public sector undertaking (PSU) banks continued to trade higher after some selected banks reported better-than-expected earnings for the quarter ended September 2013. Further, Auto shares firmed up on expectation of higher sales growth in October. Tata Motors, M&M and Maruti Suzuki were trading up by over 0.80% on BSE.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed with Shanghai Composite up by 0.34%, while Japanese index Nikkei was down by 0.96%. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,300 and 21,200 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,084 stocks traded, 1,204 stocks advanced, while 749 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 21,238.86 up by 74.34 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 21,293.88 and 21,146.57. There were only 23 stocks advancing against 7 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.26%, while Small cap index gained 0.95%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.68%, Bankex up by 1.75%, Metal up by 1.48%, PSU up by 1.41% and Auto up by 1.40%. While, Consumer Durables down by 2.02%, FMCG down by 0.66%, Oil and Gas down by 0.06% and IT down by 0.02% were losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 3.31%, Jindal Steel up by 2.85%, Hero Moto Corp up by 2.76%, Coal India up by 2.58% and M&M up by 2.13%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.59%, ITC down by 1.38%, NTPC down by 0.94%, Gail India down by 0.81% and Infosys down by 0.42% were the only losers on the Sensex.

Amid rising concerns over the fiscal deficit number touching around 76 percent of the budget estimate in the first half of current fiscal, Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram said that the government will meet the fiscal deficit target of 4.8 percent of GDP for the current financial year. During the first six month of current fiscal, fiscal deficit of the country has touched Rs 4.12 lakh crore, or 76 percent of the budget estimate of Rs 5.42 lakh crore. Net tax receipts of the country touched Rs 3.08 trillion in the first half of the current fiscal year, while, the total expenditure stood at Rs 8.09 trillion during the reported period.

Meanwhile, the government has been taking a number of measures in order to contain the country's fiscal deficit within target limit. Recently, it has announced a slew of austerity measures including banning government departments for holding meetings in 5-star hotels among others to cut government spending in non-critical areas. In the previous fiscal, the government was able to contain the fiscal deficit at 4.9 percent of GDP in FY13, against the budgeted target of 5.1 percent of GDP mainly on the back of austerity measures announced in November 2012.

Further in order to enhance the government revenue, the government has sought higher dividend payments from state-owned companies in sectors such as steel, coal, mines and power. Moreover, the finance ministry has recently said that the government is committed to the path of fiscal consolidation and will take difficult decisions soon to check country’s widening fiscal deficit.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,322.85 up by 23.70 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 6,332.60 and 6,286.95. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 decline on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Bank of Baroda up by 7.95%, PNB up by 7.75%, IDFC up by 6.05%, DLF up by 3.73% and SBI up by 3.35%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.94%, ITC down by 1.73%, NTPC down by 1.37%, Asain Paints down by 0.82% and Sun Pharma down by 0.54% was the major loser on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mixed;, Shanghai Composite up by 0.34%, Seoul Composite up by 0.41%, KLSE Composite up by 0.12% and Hang Seng up by 0.47%. While,  Straits Times down by 0.27%, Nikkei 225 down by 0.96%, Jakarta Composite down by 1.12% and Taiwan Weighted down by 0.73%.