Benchmarks trim gains; trade continues in green

Indian equities trimmed gains but continued to trade in green in the late afternoon session on account of profit booking in frontline counters. The country’s wholesale price inflation accelerated to the highest level in eight months in October pressured by an unabated rise in food prices, aggravating worries for authorities trying to boost growth without allowing price pressures to spin out of control. Traders were seen piling positions in Bankex, Capital Goods and Auto stocks while selling was witnessed in Health Care sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Natco Pharma was trading firm after the US Supreme Court rejected Teva stay request in Copaxone case. Coal India was trading in red after the company reported a drop in consolidated net profit for the July-September quarter. The world’s largest coal miner posted a profit of Rs 3,078.08 crore for the second quarter of 2012-13. The stock markets will remain closed tomorrow i.e. November 15, 2013 on account of Moharram.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in green while the European markets too were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,050 and 20,400 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1336:944 while 145 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20437.88, up by 243.48 points or 1.21% after trading in a range of 20568.99 and 20348.27. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 declining on the index.

The broader indices were too trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.96%, while Small cap index gained 0.90%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the index were Bankex up by 2.64%, Capital Goods up by 2.52%, Auto up by 2.46%, Realty up by 1.80% and Power up by 1.70% while, Health Care down by 0.25% was the sole loser on the BSE,

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 4.69%, ICICI Bank up by 3.95%, Tata Steel up by 3.57%, L&T up by 3.17% and M&M up by 3.09%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 3.58%, Cipla down by 2.13%, TCS down by 0.88%, Sun Pharma down by 0.82% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.59% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in a move to enhance country’s service exports, the government would soon come out with an action plan for five major service sectors such as entertainment, logistics, IT, tourism and healthcare. The move is aimed to boost exports from these sectors as the commerce ministry is of the view that exports basket of India's service sector is not well diversified, neither in terms of services categories nor in terms of the markets they serve. The ministry wants to enhance service exports through diversification and tapping of new markets.

Commerce Secretary S R Rao has said that besides IT and telecommunication sectors, there is a need to focus on sectors such as healthcare, tourism and financial services as well. In order to suggest steps to boost services exports, the ministry’s action plan will have some provisions, which require approval from cabinet and parliament. The commerce ministry has also organised a two day conclave during which experts have given their opinions on different sectors. The move is helping the ministry in preparing the action plan. Recently, the government has asked the service exporters to explore new markets such as Africa as the share of India's services sector in global trade is still very low. Furthermore, the government has also taken a initiative in order to properly capture the data on the services sector, a move which will help frame policies on the sector.

Indian Services sector contributes around 60 percent to the GDP, 35 percent to employment and 40 percent to exports. During 2012-13, Indian service sector exports stood at $146 billion. Further, the sector accounted for over 50 percent of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country. Meanwhile, FDI into Indian services sector has declined by 47.5 percent to $1.19 billion during the April-August period of 2013 as compared to $2.28 billion in the same period last year amid rising concerns over the declined outsourcing business in India.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,062.85, up by 73.25 points or 1.22% after trading in a range of 6,101.65 and 6,036.65. There were 37 stocks advancing against 12 declining while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Axis Bank up by 5.67%, Tata Motors up by 4.79%, Tata Steel up by 3.90%, JP Associates up by 3.82% and ICICI Bank up by 3.81%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 3.81%, Cipla down by 2.29%, Asian Paints down by 1.36%, Sun Pharma down by 1.14% and HCL Tech down by 1.11% were the major loser on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in green; Nikkei 225 up by 2.12%, Shanghai Composite up by 0.60%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.38%, Seoul Composite up by 0.20%, KLSE Composite up by 0.31%, Straits Times up by 0.74%, Hang Seng up by 0.82% and Jakarta Composite up by 1.71%.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 was up 1.09%, Germany’s DAX added 0.91% and UK’s FTSE 100 gained 0.96%.