Benchmarks continue firm trade on back of peaceful Ukraine solution

Indian equities added gains to continue to trade firm in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters while taking cues from European counterparts. The sentiments turned optimistic after Russia’s President Vladimir Putin earlier today ordered troops that took part in military exercises in central and western Russia to return to their base. The street also took note of Foreign Institutional Investors data, which were net buyers on Monday, despite a selloff in emerging markets over military tensions in Ukraine, which further added to the optimism. Traders were seen piling positions in Metal, Bankex and Capita Goods stocks, while selling was witnessed in HealthCare sector. In scrip specific development, DLF was trading in red on reports that the company is being investigated by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for allegedly misusing its dominant position in the market by drafting a one-sided agreement with the buyers of flats in its New Town Heights project in Gurgaon.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading on a mixed note, while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,250 and 21,100 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1448:1055 while 156 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 21180.12, up by 233.47 points or 1.11% after trading in a range of 21222.89 and 20940.39. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.13%, while Small cap index was up by 0.95%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.56%, Bankex up by 2.03%, Capital Goods up by 1.99%, PSU up by 1.68% and Power up by 1.60%. While, HealthCare down by 0.04% was the only losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco Industries up by 5.78%, Axis Bank up by 3.74%, SSLT up by 3.73%, ICICI bank up by 3.61% and ICICI Bank up by 3.61%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 0.33%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.27% and HDFC Bank down by 0.02% were the only losers amongst Sensex.

Meanwhile, with an aim to contain the rising inflation in the country, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched the 35th round of the quarterly survey of inflation expectations for the next three months, which are based on subjective assessments of about 5,000 households across 16 cities. The RBI notification has stated that the survey seeks qualitative responses from households on price changes (general prices as well as prices of specific product groups) for the next three months and for next one year. The results of this survey are being used by central bank as one of the important inputs to the monetary policy formulation.

RBI has appointed Mumbai-based market research agency Hansa Research Group for conducting the current round of the surveys. RBI further noted that though the agency will approach select households seeking responses, other individuals not approached by the agency can also participate in the survey by downloading the survey schedule from the RBI web site.

The RBI had highlighted that prevailing high inflation in the country continued to pose challenges to economic growth over the medium-term by impacting people's savings. Therefore, in order to check inflation, the central bank, in its third quarter review of monetary policy 2013-14, increased the repo rate by 25 basis points to 8%. WPI inflation eased to eight month low at 5.05% in January as compared to 6.16% in December and 7.31% during the corresponding month of the previous.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,292.45, up by 71.00 points or 1.14% after trading in a range of 6,299.75 and 6,215.70. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Hindalco up by 5.78%, IDFC up by 4.52%, Bank of Baroda up 4.45%, IndusInd Bank up by 4.26% and Axis Bank up by 3.66%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 1.01%, Sun Pharma down by 0.38%, DLF down by 0.32%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.27% and JP Associates down by 0.25% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian markets were trading on a mixed note; Shanghai Composite declined by 0.18%, Seoul Composite slipped 0.54%, KLSE Composite dropped 0.05% and Taiwan Weighted shed 0.55%.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 gained 0.47%, Hang Seng advanced 0.70%, Straits Times added 0.54% and Jakarta Composite inched higher by 0.32%.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 was up 1.15%, Germany’s DAX added 1.01% and UK’s FTSE 100 gained 1.19%.