Domestic bourses trade higher on firm Asian cues

Buoyed by firm cues from Asian markets, Indian equity benchmarks, extending their previous session's run, have made a positive start and are trading in the green in early morning deals on Thursday. Asian equity indices were rallying at this point of time, with investors indulging in some bargain hunting after recent steep losses. Japanese stocks bounced after skidding to four-month low this week. Though, the US markets ended marginally in red despite recovering from the day’s low. There was some concern with the report from ADP and Moody's Analytics showing that employment in the US private sector increased by less than expected in the month of January.

Back home, some support also came in from Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s statement that the country can grow at a sustained rate of 8-9 percent annually over the next 10-30 years. Some optimism also came on the buzz that the government allowing 26% foreign investment in activities related to insurance like broking, third party administrators and surveyors and permitted FIIs and NRIs to also invest in insurers within stipulated cap. Meanwhile, Activity in India's services sector improved marginally in January but still remained in the ‘contraction zone’ for the seventh month running. The HSBC Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) climbed to 48.3 in January from 46.7 in December.

Back home, on the sectoral front, metal witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by consumer durables and banking, while software, capital goods and technology remained the few losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were trading in-line with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1007 shares on the gaining side against 408 shares on the losing side while 70 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 20286.09; about 25 points higher compared to its previous closing of 20261.03, and touched a high and a low of 20358.19 and 20278.75 respectively.The index is currently trading at 20343.55, up by 82.52 points or 0.41%. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 67.81% stocks advancing against 27.47% declines. The broader indices too were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index up was by 0.71% and Small cap gained 0.78%. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Metal up by 1.09%, Consumer Durables up by 0.99%, Bankex up by 0.78%, Oil & Gas up by 0.77% and FMCG up by 0.60%, while IT down by 0.33%, Capital Goods down by 0.25% and Teck down by 0.03% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.05%, Tata Steel up by 1.96%, Tata Power up by 1.37%, Wipro up by 1.23% and Axis Bank up by 1.22%. On the flip side, BHEL was down by 2.68%, Bajaj Auto was down by 0.77%, TCS was down by 0.55%, Infosys was down by 0.49% and  NTPC was down by 0.45% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, with an aim to resolve the difficulties faced by exporters and importers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has liberalised the third party payment norms for import of goods by removing the ceiling of $100,000. Earlier, the amount of third party payment import transaction was capped at $100,000.

The apex bank also simplified certain documentation norms related with third party payments for exports and imports transactions. The RBI further noted that firm irrevocable order backed by a tripartite agreement for overseas transactions may not be insisted upon in certain cases by banks.

RBI further stated that third party payment made to a Financial Action Task Force (FATF) compliant country should be through the banking channel only. Further, concerned bank should be satisfied with the bona-fides of the transaction and export documents, such as, invoice and should also consider the FATF statements while handling such transaction.

The CNX Nifty opened at 6,028.35; about 6 point lower as compared to its previous closing of 6,022.40, and has touched a high and a low of 6,048.35 and 6,026.95 respectively. The index is currently trading at 6,044.15, up by 21.75 points or 0.36%. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Jindal Steel up by 2.08%, Bank of Baroda up by 2.07%, Tata Steel up by 1.84%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.75% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.26%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 2.77%, HCL Tech down by 1.09%, Bajaj-Auto down by 0.89%, TCS down by 0.70% and Power Grid down by 0.62% were the top losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Hang Seng rose 109.05 points or 0.51% to 21,378.43, Jakarta Composite increased 12.87 points or 0.29% to 4,397.18, KLSE Composite jumped 3.58 points or 0.20% to 1,789.46, Nikkei 225 strengthened 36.30 points or 0.26% to 14,216.68, Straits Times surged 28.64 points or 0.97% to 2,988.73, Seoul Composite added 14.46 points or 0.76% to 1,905.78 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 49.42 points or 0.60% to 8,313.90.