Benchmarks add gains; Nifty surpasses 6200 mark

Indian equities added gains to continue firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline counters. The markets took note of Chairman of Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council C Rangarajan's views that the economy should grow 5.3% this fiscal and as of now there is no reason to lower that estimate. He also said that current account deficit (CAD) for this fiscal is likely to be $55 billion. Traders were seen piling positions in Realty, Capital Goods and TECK stocks while selling was witnessed in Consumer Durables, Metal and FMCG sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Hindustan Motors was trading firm in green on posting strong September quarter earnings which were announced last evening. The CK Birla Group owned company posted a profit of Rs 29 lakh for the quarter ended September, 2013-14 fiscal. It had a loss of Rs 30.10 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal. Financial Technologies' was trading in green as it’s wholly owned subsidiary - Financial Technologies Singapore (FTSPL) has sold 100% of its equity ownership in SMX for $150 million.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading on a mixed note while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,200 and 20,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1131:1144 while 165 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20904.07, up by 53.00 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 20,934.40 and 20828.69. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; while BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.36%, Small cap index was hanging in green with gains of 0.16%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.73%, Capital Goods up by 1.24%, TECK up by 0.48%, Bankex up by 0.40%and Oil & Gas up by 0.36%. While, Consumer Durables down by 0.70%, Metal down by 0.39%, FMCG down by 0.32%, Health Care down by 0.06% and Power down by 0.03% were losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco Industries up by 3.32%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.16%, SBI up by 3.10%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.30% and Gail India up by 1.86%. On the flip side, SSLT down by 3.10%, HDFC Bank down by 1.26%, Tata Steel down by 1.13%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.89% and Coal India down by 0.89% were the major losers on the index.

Meanwhile, amid rising concerns over increasing acquisitions of domestic pharma firms by multinationals, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the pharma sector grew by more than doubled to $ 1.07 billion during April-August’ 2013 as compared to $ 487 million during  the same period last year.

The commerce and industry ministry is presently concerned over the rising acquisitions in domestic pharmaceutical industry and is proposing to tighten the FDI policy for the sector by incorporating conditions like mandatory investment in R&D and non-compete clause in the shareholders pact. The government is of the view that continuing acquisitions of Indian pharma firms by foreign companies would pose serious problems in availability of life-saving drugs to consumers in near future. It also wants restrictions on FDI in brown-field or existing pharma companies amid rising fears that such acquisitions could shrink India’s capacity of producing low-cost generic drugs. During the period from April 2012 to April 2013, over 96 percent of the total FDI in the sector has come into brown-field pharma.

Recently, the government has approved a Rs 5,168 crore proposal of US-based pharma firm Mylan Inc's to acquire Indian generic drugs company Agila Specialties. Such acquisition is likely to impact the industry genetic segment, which accounts for the largest chuck of the sector, with a share of around 72 percent in the total industry revenue. The Indian generic drug market grew at a CAGR of around 17 per cent between 2010-11 and 2012-13 mainly on the back of rising exports of generic drug due to their low cost.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,204.65, up by 15.65 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 6,212.40 and 6,180.20. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Hindalco Industries up by 3.45%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.30%, SBI up by 3.08%, Bank of Baroda up by 2.96% and PNB up by 2.35%. On the flip side, SSLT down by 3.08%, BPCL down by 1.77%, HDFC Bank down by 1.41%, Power Grid down by 1.30% and Tata Steel down by 1.23% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted up by 0.84%, Seoul Composite surged 1.04%, KLSE Composite surged 0.96% and Jakarta Composite added 0.08%.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite down by 0.19%, Hang Seng edged lower by 0.01%, Straits Times declined 0.38%, and Nikkei 225 shed 0.25%.

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 was down 0.66%, Germany’s DAX lost 0.36% and UK’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.52%.