Benchmark trim gains; trade continues in green

Indian equities trimmed gains but continued to trade in green on account of profit booking in frontline counters. Investors were cautious after the nation’s central bank stated that rising bad loans at Indian lenders remain a major challenge amid a slowdown in Asia’s third-largest economy. Traders were seen piling position in Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas and PSU stocks while selling was witnessed in Auto sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Cairn India was trading in green after the company informed stock exchanges of a board meeting that will be held next week to discuss buyback plans. Torrent Pharmaceuticals and Elder Pharma both are trading in green on reports that Torrent is in advanced stages of talks to acquire the domestic business of Elder Pharma.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in green while the European markets were too trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,000 and 20,300 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1199:1035 while 162 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20355.85, up by 126.80 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 20,388.12 and 20246.59. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 declining on the index.

The broader indices continued to trade with vigor; with BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap indices trading higher by 0.33% and 0.47% respectively.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.37%, Oil and Gas up by 1.32%, PSU up by 0.87%, Capital Goods up by 0.81% and Bankex up by 0.72% while, Auto down by 0.52% was the sole loser on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 2.96%, HDFC up by 2.64%, Tata Steel up by 2.13%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.66% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.53%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.59%, Hindalco Industries down by 1.38%, SSLT down by 1.28%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.65% and Sun Pharma down by 0.44% were the top losers on the Sensex

Meanwhile, allaying fears of investors in overseas countries, especially the Indian diaspora, concerned over the deteriorating fundamentals of the domestic country, Finance Minister P Chidambaram assured them saying that India is a safe investment destination for them. By adding further, Chidambaram has said that present exchange rate of rupee is a better reflection of its true value and the country is confident that both volatility and speculation have been largely contained.

Finance Minister assured investors that stability in rupee value will come soon as Indian authorities such as RBI have been continuously taking measures in order to check rupee volatility. On inflation front, Chidambaram said that the rate of price rise will ease to below 5 percent in current fiscal following steps taken by the Government and the Reserve Bank of India.

Foreign investment is considered crucial for economic development, as a rise in capital inflow will help support the rupee, which has depreciated over 15 percent against dollar in 2013. Despite the various efforts of Indian authorities to enhance capital inflow, FIIs have pulled out Rs 2,916 crore from debt securities so far this month and have withdrawn Rs 53,070 crore from the debt market since the beginning of year owing to the rising worries over the US Fed tapering.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,033.05, up by 34.00 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 6,049.60 and 6,003.95. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Cairn India up by 3.07%, ONGC up by 3.00%, HDFC up by 2.35%, Ambuja Cement up by 2.22% and Tata Steel up 2.06%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.70%, UltraTech Cement down by 1.61%, SSLT down by 1.59%, Hindalco Industries down by 1.51% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.71% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mostly positive;, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.21%, Seoul Composite up by 0.62%, Nikkei 225 up by 0.10%, Straits Times added 0.03% and Hang Seng up by 0.49%. While, Shanghai Composite down by 0.43%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.36% and KLSE Composite down by 0.03%.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 was up 0.50%, Germany’s DAX added 0.15% and UK’s FTSE 100 jumped 0.38%.