Markets get a jubilant start tailing positive global cues

Indian markets in sync with the other global indices have made a decent start on Friday, bouncing back from their last session’s plunge. All the beaten down sectors along with the broader markets are showing sign of recovery, taking the benchmarks once again over their psychological levels of 6100 (Nifty) and 20600 (Sensex). The mood of the domestic markets got a boost with the surge in the US bourses after preliminary manufacturing index in the US expanded at the fastest pace in almost four years in February. The Asian markets out of China, too made a jubilant start and boosted the morale of the local markets. Back home, the good start in the rupee and the report that foreign investors have been net buyers of Indian shares in the last seven sessions, aided to the sentiments. All the thirteen sectoral gauges on the BSE were trading in green in early deals, led by the high beta banking which suffered sharp selling pressure in the last session. However, the non sectoral gauge of telecom is not looking much enthusiast about the DoT’s issuance of the much-awaited guidelines for merger and acquisition, as the telcos feel that the guidelines clause that merged entity would need to pay the market price for the entire spectrum holding minus the entry fee already paid by the seller, will be a burden.

The broader indices too were trading in-line with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,041 shares on the gaining side against 405 shares on the losing side while 74 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 20600.58; about 63 points higher compared to its previous closing of 20536.64, and touched a high and a low of 20705.02 and 20599.91 respectively. The index is currently trading at 20697.30, up by 160.66 points or 0.78%. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 68.49% stocks advancing against 26.64% declines. The broader indices too were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index up was by 0.65% and Small cap gained 0.73%. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Bankex up by 1.27%, Metal up by 0.92%, FMCG up by 0.82%, Capital Goods up by 0.79% and IT up by 0.71%, while there were no losers on the sectoral space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.05%, Axis Bank up by 1.75%, Tata Steel up by 1.25%, Gail India up by 1.20% and ITC up by 1.01%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel was down by 0.51% and Hindustan Unilever was down by 0.05% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, India’s foreign direct investment (FDI) in December 2013 remained unchanged at $1.10 billion, same as a year ago period and lower compared to $1.64 billion in the month of November. However, for the nine month period April-December, FDI equity inflows showed a modest decline of 2 percent to $16.56 billion from $16.94 billion during the corresponding period of the previous year.

As per the data from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), during the first nine months of the fiscal, the highest FDI contributor was services with investment of $1.59 billion, followed by pharmaceuticals $1.26 billion, construction development $ 914 million and automobiles $871 million.

Region wise, Mauritius once again led the inflows with $3.67 billion of FDI during April-December, followed by Singapore $ 3.2 billion, UK $3.14 billion and the Netherlands $ 1.6 billion. On Domestic city wise, New Delhi, followed by Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Ahmedabad attracted maximum FDI during the nine months period ended April-December.

The nation requires about $1 trillion of FDI between 2012-13 and 2016-17, the 12th Five-Year Plan period, to fund infrastructure projects. Recently the government has proposed relaxation of norms for foreign investment in construction, a move that could open up funds flow into the financially stressed sector and can improve the FDI in the country.

The CNX Nifty opened at 6,108.30; about 16 point higher as compared to its previous closing of 6,091.45, and has touched a high and a low of 6,144.80 and 6,108.00 respectively. The index is currently trading at 6,142.55, up by 51.10 points or 0.84%. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 2.19%, Axis Bank up by 1.65%, Gail up by 1.41%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.40% and Grasim up by 1.34%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 0.64%, DLF down by 0.56% and Ranbaxy down by 0.55% were the top losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Hang Seng strengthened by 92.07 points or 0.41% to 22,486.15, Jakarta Composite rose 33.03 points or 0.72% to 4,631.25, KLSE Composite increased by 0.38 points or 0.02% to 1,828.19, Nikkei 225 surged by 341.76 points or 2.37% to 14,790.94, Straits Times spurted 17.32 points or 0.56% to 3,103.96, KOSPI Composite 21.06 points or 1.09% to 1,951.63 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 61.43 points or 0.72% to 8,586.05.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 20.65 points or 0.97% to 2,118.13.