Benchmarks trade at intra-day high level in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks extended early gains to continue firm trade in afternoon session, hovering near the intra-day high level of the day on the back of buying witnessed in banking, realty and capital goods stocks. Firm global cues coupled with strong microeconomic data on domestic front has enthused the markets to extend their gains. Sustained buying by foreign funds over the past few sessions also fuelled rally in equity markets. Foreign investors bought Indian shares worth Rs 1273 crore in the previous session, highest purchase since December 19, 2013. Sentiments also got some support as India Ratings revised upward Indian economic growth forecast to 5.6 percent in 2014-15 against 5 percent projected earlier. On sector front, bankex was top gainer on BSE up by over 5.60% followed by capital goods and realty indices both up by over 2.40%. On the other hand, shares of information technology (IT) companies are under pressure after the Indian rupee soared to the highest level in almost three months against dollar. Bharti Airtel has surged around 5% to Rs 300 after Standard & Poor's (S&P) Ratings Services said that it had raised its long-term corporate credit rating on telecommunication services provider to 'BBB-' from 'BB+'.

On global front, Asian equity indices were trading in green with Nikkei 225 soared by 0.92% and Hang Seng surged by 0.04%. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,400 and 21,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,411 stocks traded, 1,241 stocks advanced, while 1,061 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 21,819.78 up by 305.91 points or 1.42% after trading in a range of 21,843.13 and 21,539.40. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.03%, while Small cap index up by 0.09%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 5.60%, Capital Goods up by 4.61%, Realty up by 2.62%, Oil and Gas up by 2.07%, and Power up by 1.20%. While, IT down by 2.51%, Healthcare down by 1.93%, Teck down by 1.62%, FMCG down by 0.42% and Consumer Durables down by 0.06% were the losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 8.50%, Axis Bank up by 6.71%, L&T up by 6.45%, Bharti Airtel up by 5.00% and SBI up by 4.75%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.66%, Dr Reddy’s Lab down by 3.17%, TCS down by 2.72%, Infosys down by 2.18% and Gail India down by 1.24%.

Meanwhile, seeking to check gold smuggling in the country, the government has tightened norms for Indians bringing gold into the country as overseas workers now prefer to bring their savings in gold, which is leading to spurt in smuggling and pressure on inward remittances.

As per the Central Board of Excise & Customs directive, passengers will now have to mention the engraved serial number on gold bars and item-wise list of ornaments in the baggage receipt issued by customs. In order to prevent misuse of the gold import facility, the apex indirect taxes body has also directed its field officials to ascertain the antecedents of such passengers, source of funding for gold as well as duty being paid in foreign currency and  person responsible for booking of tickets etc. Presently, any Indian passenger or a passenger holding a valid passport issued under the Passport Act, 1967 coming to India after a period of more than six months of stay abroad is eligible to import up to1 kg gold in the form of bars and ornaments on payment of 10% Customs duty in foreign currency.

Over the past few months, there has been a spurt in import of gold by eligible passengers through various airports and the custom department is of the view that some unscrupulous elements are smuggling gold by hiring eligible passengers to import gold on their behalf. Gold smuggling to India increased after the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed restriction on gold imports to reduce the widening current account deficit (CAD). The curbs included higher import duty at 10 percent and linking the imports to exports with 20:80 scheme under which 20% of all gold imports by importers has to be re-exported.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,495.55 up by 94.40 points or 1.47% after trading in a range of 6,499.85 and 6,413.55. There were only 34 stocks advancing against 16 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 8.08%, JP Associates up by 7.80%, L&T up by 6.47%, Axis Bank up by 6.40% and DLF up by 5.36%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.85%, Dr Reddy’s Lab down by 3.23%, TCS down by 2.70%, Lupin down by 2.32% and Infosys down by 2.14% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Nikkei 225 soared 139.32 points or 0.92% to 15,274.07, Hang Seng surged by 8.20 points or 0.04% to 22,711.17, Straits Times was up by 6.46 points or 0.20% to 3,135.71, Shanghai Composite up by 0.32 points or 0.02% to 2,059.85, Jakarta Composite rose by 8.74 points or around 0.19% to 4,696.60 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.17% to 8713.96.