Benchmarks pare gains; trade continues in green

Indian equities pared gains but continued to trade in green in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline counters taking cues from regional counterparts. The market was on optimistic note after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured Indian diaspora that the country’s economy is heading for good times, and there are no reasons to despair about India’s present or worry about its future. Investors were however bit cautious ahead of factory output data on Friday and key inflation data next week which is also preventing further upside of the bourses. Traders were seen piling positions in PSU, Health Care and Oil & Gas stocks while selling was witnessed in Capital Goods, Realty and Consumer Durables sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Mastek was trading firm after touching 3-year high as the board of directors will meet today to consider a proposal of buyback of equity shares. Prestige Estates Projects was trading in green after the company announced encouraging sales performance for the quarter ended December 2013.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in green barring Shanghai Composite and Seoul Composite, while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,150 and 20,700 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1378:965 while 146 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20736.71, up by 43.47 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 20,783.57 and 20,688.18. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices too pared some early gains; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.54%, while Small cap index up by 0.28%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up 1.13%, Health Care up by 0.99%, Oil & Gas up by 0.63%, Metal up by 0.62% and Auto up by 0.57%. On the other hand, Capital Goods down by 1.04%, Realty down 0.36%, Consumer Durables down by 0.11%, TECK down 0.02% and IT down by 0.01% were the losing index on BSE.  

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 4.64%, Gail India up by 2.50%, Tata Power up by 2.07%, Cipla up by 2.06% and Sun Pharma up by 1.73%. On the flip side, SSLT down by 1.74%, L&T down by 1.67%, Axis Bank down by 1.58%, Infosys down by 0.98% and Wipro down by 0.56% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with a view to enhance the foreign investment in Indian capital markets, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has notified new Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) regulations to put in place an easier registration process and operating framework for overseas entities.

The new regulations that came into effect have replaced the existing regulations for Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), FPIs and Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs).  As per the new SEBI’s norms, Know Your Client (KYC) requirements and other registration procedures have been made simpler for FPIs compared to current practices.

Further, SEBI has also noted that permanent registration will be granted to overseas entities as against the current practice of granting approvals for one year or five years adding that registration would be permanent unless suspended or cancelled by the regulator or surrendered by the FPI. The market regulators further added that FPIs would need to apply for registration through Designated Depository Participants (DDPs), subject to compliance with KYC norms. After receipt of application by the designated depository participant, FPIs shall endeavor to dispose of the application for grant of certificate of registration within 30 days. SEBI added that all existing FIIs and Sub Accounts may continue to buy, sell or otherwise deal in securities under the FPI regime.

SEBI has divided FPIs into three categories based on their risk profile. The Category I FPIs include lowest risk entities such as foreign governments and government related foreign investors. Category II FPIs include appropriately regulated broad based funds and regulated entities, university related endowments and pension funds etc. Meanwhile, Category III FPIs include all others not eligible under the first two categories.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,176.70, up by 14.45 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 6,191.20 and 6,160.35. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Coal India up by 4.79%, NMDC up by 2.79%, Gail India up by 2.60%, Cairn India up by 2.43% and Cipla up by 2.20%. On the flip side, L&T down by 1.81%, SSLT down by 1.65%, Axis Bank down by 1.56%, BPCL down by 1.36% and Ranbaxy down by 1.31% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Nikkei 225 up by 1.94%, Hang Seng up by 1.25%, Straits Times up by 0.82%, KLSE Composite up by 0.43%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.51% and Jakarta Composite up by 0.58% while, Shanghai Composite down by 0.15% and Seoul Composite down by 0.02%.

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 was down 0.12%, Germany’s DAX was down 0.13% and UK’s FTSE 100 lost 0.24%.