Benchmarks continue firm trade; Nifty holds 6100 mark

Indian equities continued its firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline counters ahead of F&O expiry. Investors have started eyeing India’s GDP data which is scheduled to release tomorrow. Traders were seen piling position in Realty, Capital Goods and Power stocks. In scrip specific development, Coal India was trading in green after Petroleum Secretary Vivek Rae stated that the company would soon be empowered to explore coal bed methane (CBM) gas in its mines. Shree Ganesh Jewellery House was locked at the lower circuit limit as its September quarter earnings were dismal. The jewellery company posted a net loss of Rs 1047.74 crore in the July-September quarter this fiscal against a profit of Rs 82.57 crore in the corresponding quarter of FY13. The market may remain volatile today as traders may roll over positions in the Futures & Options (F&O) segment from the near month i.e. November 2013 series to next month i.e. December 2013 series. The near month November 2013 derivatives contract expires today i.e. November 28, 2013.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in green barring Hang Seng and Jakarta Composite while the European markets were trading on mixed note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,100 and 20,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1320:936 while 163 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20570.03 up by 149.77 points or 0.73% after trading in a range of 20,606.38 and 20,517.97. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices continue to trade in fine fettle; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.82%, while Small cap index was up by 1.05%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.90%, Capital Goods up by 1.72%, Power up by 1.72%, Oil & Gas up by 1.33% and Metal up by 1.18% while, there were no losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 3.14%, Hindalco Industries up by 2.53%, RIL up by 1.99%, Tata Power up by 1.87% and SSLT up by 1.84%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.18% and TCS down 0.14% were the only losers on the index.

Meanwhile, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) is expected to propose a new policy on foreign direct investment (FDI) in the pharma sector. As per the new DIPP’s proposal, 100 percent FDI would be allowed in brown-field projects, subject to government's approval. However, for brown-field project deals with rare facilities and critical verticals, only 49 percent FDI would be allowed with government's approval. Furthermore, DIPP also noted that 25 per cent of the total investment in the brown-field projects should be used in Research and Development (R&D) activities.

Meanwhile, the DIPP’s proposal has brought disappointment to Finance ministry, which stated that proposed 49 per cent FDI cap on projects dealing with rare facilities would discourage potential investors. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the pharma sector grew by more than double to $1.07 billion during April-August’ 2013 as compared to $487 million during the same period last year. During the period 2000-2013, India's pharmaceutical sector attracted $11.39 billion in foreign investment, which was around 6 percent of its total $200 billion foreign investment inflows.

On the other hand, the DIPP and health ministry are of the view that in the absence of such policy, affordability and accessibility of Indian generic drugs would be highly impacted. Industry's generic segment accounts for the largest chunk 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 6,103.10, up by 46.00 points or 0.76% after trading in a range of 6,112.95 and 6,090. There were 45 stocks advancing against 4 declining while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were JP Associates up by 7.48%, BHEL up by 3.52%, Hindalco Industries up by 2.53%, IDFC up by 2.23% and Power Grid up by 2.17%. On the flip side, Cairn India down by 1.16%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.30%, TCS down by 0.23% and ACC down by 0.05% were the only major on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite up by 0.83%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.80%, Seoul Composite up by 0.84%, Nikkei 225 up by 1.80%, Straits Times up by 0.45% and KLSE Composite up by 0.39%. On the other hand, Hang Seng down by 0.07% and Jakarta Composite down by 0.84% were the only losers amongst Asian pack.

The European markets were trading mixed; France’s CAC 40 was up 0.15%, Germany’s DAX added 0.16% and UK’s FTSE 100 inched lower 0.05%.