Benchmarks continue firm trade in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade firm in afternoon session as investors’ sentiments were upbeat as BJP, which is widely seen as more business friendly, performed well in the state assembly elections in four states. Buying was witnessed in all indices on BSE except consumer durables. Banking was the top gaining index on BSE up by nearly 3.19% followed by oil and gas and capital goods stocks both up by over 1.50%. Further, appreciation in rupee value against the dollar and firm trade in Asian markets also added to the optimistic sentiments. On stock specific movement, ICICI bank, SSLT and L&T were trading up by over 3.80%, while, Jindal steel, Tata Steel and Cipla were trading marginally down on BSE. L&T were trading higher as the company has received fresh orders over Rs 5,000 crore since November. Among other stocks, shares of construction and engineering major have outperformed the market by gaining 25% since November 13, compared to 5.6% rise in benchmark S&P BSE Sensex.

On global front, Asian markets were trading in green with Seoul Composite up by 0.95% and Jakarta Composite up by 0.34%. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,300 and 21,300 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,158 stocks traded, 1,100 stocks advanced, while 920 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 21,312.24 up by 315.71 points or 1.50% after trading in a range of 21,483.74 and 21,282.64. There were 27 stocks advancing against only 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.53%, while Small cap index up by 0.28%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 3.19%, Capital Goods up by 2.60%, Oil and Gas up by 1.59%, Power up by 1.43% and Realty up by 0.86%. While, Consumer Durable down by 0.34% was the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 4.66%, SSLT up by 4.03%, L&T up by 3.84%, HDFC Bank up by 3.25% and NTPC up by 3.09%. On the flip side, Jindal Steel down by 4.20%, Cipla down by 0.45% and Tata Steel down by 0.30%.

Meanwhile, As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) latest Inflation Expectations Survey, most households in India expect inflation to move higher in coming future. The survey conducted in the third quarter of 2013 (July-September) over 4,765 urban households revealed that the families in 16 cities expected prices to climb from 11.8 per cent year-on-year in the quarter ended September 2013 to 12.8 percent in the October-December quarter. Furthermore, they expect inflation for the next 12 months to be at 13.5 per cent.

Highlighting that it was the sixteenth consecutive double-digit average inflation expectation since December 2009, The RBI survey noted that around 77 percent of the respondents forecast double-digit inflation in the three-month period as compared to 65 percent in the quarter ended June 2013 and 80 percent forecast double digit inflation over one year, up from 73 percent in the second quarter of 2013. On city wise, the survey indicated that inflation expectations have eased in many major cities across the country. The inflation expectation was highest in Guwahati, with respondents fearing a 13 percent price rise in the survey conducted in July-September 2013, compared with 15.4 percent in the previous quarterly survey. In Mumbai, respondents projected 12.3 percent inflation down from 14.9 percent and in Bangalore, the inflation expectations prediction down from 14.2 percent to 9.2 percent inflation. On the other hand, the survey responses in Delhi suggested a rise in inflation to 12.2 percent in the October -December quarter, compared to 11.6 percent estimate for the three months ended September.

The wholesale price index (WPI) accelerated to eight-month high of 7% in the month of October on y-o-y basis. Rising inflation in the country has become a concern for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which has kept the inflation fight at the top of agenda and has been continually raising the policy rates over the past few months in order to trim the inflation.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,360.75 up by 100.85 points or 1.61% after trading in a range of 6,415.25 and 6,345. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 4.59%, SSLT up by 4.31%, L&T up by 3.92%, Indusind Bank up by 3.35% and NTPC up by 3.22%. On the flip side, Jindal Steel down by 4.30%, NMDC down by 0.77%, Cipla down by 0.53%, Cairn down by 0.46% and Tata Steel down by 0.30% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in green; Seoul Composite up by 0.95%, Jakarta Composite up by 0.34%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.92%, and Shanghai Composite up by 0.02%, KLSE Composite up by 0.61%, Nikkei 225 up by 2.12%, Hang Seng up by 0.51% and Straits Times up by 0.01%.