Benchmarks off day’s high; hold on to modest gains

Off day’s high, Indian equity markets in a range-bound session of trade are managing to hold on modest gains of over one tenth of a percent, trading past the crucial 20,650 (Sensex) and 6,100 (Nifty) levels. Absence of positive triggers at home front combined with profit-booking at higher level mainly have halved the early gains of the bourses, with much of the pressure coming in from the stocks of Metal, Power and Auto sectors.

However, some positive global cues have managed to keep the momentum positive. On the global front, most of Asian pacific shares traded in green barring the Japanese and Korean markets after yen strengthened.

Closer home, stocks of Consumer Durables, Healthcare and Information Technology counters were trading higher. While gains of Sun pharmaceuticals bolstered the spirit of other pharmaceuticals stocks and up-move of Infosys has lifted the entire IT pivotal higher. Additionally, sugar stocks were trading upbeat in otherwise subdued day of trade. Reports suggests that, the country’s sugar output fell over 13% to 14.4 million tonnes (mt) so far this year on delayed crushing. The overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of advances which have thumped declines in the ratio of 1248:1027; while 114 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20672.33, up by 38.12 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 20694.42 and 20629.56. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 declines on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Consumer Durables up by 1.14%, Healthcare up by 0.89%, IT up by 0.69%, Teck up by 0.63% and Capital Goods up by 0.55%, while Metal down by 1.32%, Power down by 0.40%, Auto down by 0.27%, Realty down by 0.22%, PSU down by 0.17% and Bankex down by 0.07% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.14%, Infosys up by 1.26%, Gail India up by 1.13%, BHEL up by 0.87% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.83%. On the flip side, SSLT down by 2.03%, Tata Steel was down by 1.53%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.22%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.94% and Tata Power down by 0.88% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in order to help existing and prospective shareholders with accurate and relevant information about the financial and operating performance of the companies, Capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has proposed that listed firms should file an Annual Information Memorandum (AIM), on the lines of practices followed in the US and other large markets.

The memorandum, which is proposed to be filed by the top 200 companies by market capitalization from the next financial year beginning April 1 and by other firms from April 1, 2015, can also be used as a reference document while raising funds. However, the company wanting to use AIM as draft offer document for future capital raisings would be required to submit an auditor’s examination report along with AIM.

According to the regulator, companies must give complete details of capital structure, borrowings, lending, share pledge, specific mention of important changes in the business of the company during the financial year, information regarding legal cases on promoters, details of public issues such as convertibles and Foreign Convertible Bonds or FCCBs and the reason for un-utilized proceeds. Although, such information is available on stock exchanges in bits and pieces for secondary market participants, there is no single document which contains all subsequent updates of the company at one place. It is in view of this, SEBI is mulling consolidated 'annual info' filing by firms and floated draft proposal inviting public comments to be submitted to the regulator on ore before March 9, 2014. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,136.50, up by 9.40 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 6,143.75 and 6,125.75. There were 22 stocks advancing against 27 decliners on the index, while 1 share remained unchanged.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Ranbaxy up by 3.60%, Sun Pharma up by 2.20%, Infosys up by 1.30%, Ultra Cement up by 1.16% and Gail India up by 1.10%. On the flip side, Jindal Steel down by 2.95%, JP Associates down by 2.02%, Tata Steel down by 1.75%, SSLT down by 1.72% and IDFC down by 1.53% were the top losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Hang Seng gained 0.31%, Taiwan Weighted gained 0.24%, Shanghai Composite added 0.73%, Jakarta Composite advanced 0.44% and Straits Times rose by 0.63%.

On the flip side, KLSE Composite slipped 0.08%, Nikkei 225 dropped 0.52%, Seoul Composite slid 0.20% were the losers among Asian pack.