Benchmarks continue lackluster trade with positive bias

Indian equities continued to trade in green in the late afternoon session on account of moderate buying in frontline counters taking cues from global counterparts. The sentiments were cautious after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) panel on Tuesday underscored that it should set an eventual target of 4% for consumer price inflation (CPI), with a plus or minus 2%. Further, the panel added that it should aim to lower CPI, currently at 9.87%, to 8% over the next 12 months and to 6% in the next 24 months. Sentiments improved as International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated that Indian economy is likely to grow at 4.6% in current financial year and the growth may improve to 5.4% by 2014-15. Traders were seen piling positions in HealthCare, Metal and TECK stocks while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Capital Goods and PSU sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Tilaknagar Industries was trading firm on reports that Kishore Chhabria-led Allied Blenders and Distillers (ABD) is looking to acquire majority stake in the company. To fund the acquisition, ABD has started raising $200 million.

On the global front, the Asian markets barring KLSE Composite 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 6,300 and 21,200 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1251:1218 while 157 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 21273.14, up by 22.02 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 21,312.17 and 21,168.43. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were too trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.19%, while Small cap index up by 0.28%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were HealthCare up by 0.91%, Metal up by 0.75%, TECK up by 0.30%, Power up by 0.29% and Oil & Gas up by 0.24%. While, FMCG down by 0.53%, Capital Goods down by 0.52%, PSU down by 0.10% and Consumer Durables down by 0.04% were the only losing indices on BSE.  

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.00%, Tata Steel up by 1.97%, Hindalco Industries up by 1.55%, NTPC up by 1.34% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.25%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.11%, L&T down by 0.82%, Tata Power down by 0.65%, Coal India down by 0.57% and Hero Motocorp down by 0.56%.

Meanwhile, after approving several long-stalled investment projects worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore in the first three weeks, the new environment and forest minister Veerappa Moily stated that 55 other projects facing environmental approval backlog to be cleared by mid-February. In order to ensure more predictability for prospective investors, Moily, who is also the Oil Minister, has asserted the need for quick decision-making in environmental clearance and stated that environment ministry will clear all pending projects in the next 20 days.

Among various approved projects, Veerappa Moily has cleared the Posco project, which had been pending for 8 years. South Korean giant Posco got environmental clearance on January 7 to build the Rs 52,000-crore steel plant in Odisha, the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) in India. However, Vedanta's Niyamgiri project was rejected due to the opposition by the majority of village bodies.

Presently, the forest clearance procedures are considered by industry as the single-biggest drag on India's investment momentum. Meanwhile, the government is hopeful of putting in place a simplified forest clearance system before its term ends in a few months. In order to bring comprehensive policy for inspection, verification and monitoring in the forest clearance procedure, the Environment Ministry has kicked off a fast-track review of the cumbersome procedures involving green clearances that often take years. Now, the ministry has sought for India Inc's views on its revised draft policy to grant of forest clearance.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,322.90, up by 9.10 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 6,330.60 and 6,287.45. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 2.32%, Tata Steel up 2.23%, Lupin up by 1.82%, NTPC up by 1.53% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.49%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.74%, ITC down by 1.31%, Grasim down by 1.01%, ACC down by 0.91% and L&T down by 0.71% were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in green barring KLSE Composite which was down by 0.02%; while Seoul Composite up by 0.33%, Shanghai Composite up by 2.16%, Nikkei 225 up by 0.16%, Hang Seng up by 0.21%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.30%, Jakarta Composite up 0.27% and Straits Times up by 0.01%. 

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 was up 0.30%, Germany’s DAX added 0.17% and UK’s FTSE 100 gained 0.40%.