Benchmarks manage to end in green for the fifth straight session

Key domestic benchmarks managed to keep their head above water on Monday, extending their gaining streak for the fifth straight day, after a stirring tussle between bulls and bears during the session. Buying which emerged in late trade mainly acted as saving grace for domestic equity markets and helped them to hit fresh closing high levels. Overall, sentiments remained up-beat as Finance Minister P Chidambaram emphasized that the economy is presently more stable, as the fiscal and current account deficits are under control and the economy is more stable than it was 18 months ago. Consistent buying from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in the past seventeen consecutive sessions too supported the sentiments. FIIs bought shares worth Rs 5,044.54 crore in the week, including provisional data of March 7, 2014.

Positive opening in European counters too supported the sentiments with FTSE and CAC trading higher, though DAX was trading in the red in early deals. However, all the Asian markets shut shop in the red after trade data showed Chinese exports fell 18 per cent in February and with tensions in Ukraine continuing to simmer.

Back home, stocks of banking license aspirants edged higher during the trade as the RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said that the central bank would take a decision in the next few weeks, subject to approval of the Election Commission. Telecom stocks like, IDEA Cellular, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communication too edged higher, despite the Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that operationalisation of the model code of conduct would delay spectrum sharing and trading by three to four months though the government had in principle approved the concept.

Additionally, Capital goods space too edged higher led by L&T, which hit 52-week high after the company said its construction division won new orders worth Rs 2935 crore across various business segments in February. On the flip side, shares of metal companies plunged after data on Saturday showed Chinese exports unexpectedly tumbled in February, raising fears of a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty rose by over ten points to end above its psychological 6,500 level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex surged above fifteen points to end above the psychological 21,900 mark. Broader markets outperformed benchmarks and ended the session with a gain of around half a percentage point. The market breadth remained in favour of advances, as there were 1,458 shares on the gaining side against 1,348 shares on the losing side, while 160 shares remained unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 15.04 points or 0.07%, to settle at 21934.83, while the CNX Nifty added 10.60 points or 0.16% to settle at 6,537.25.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 22023.98 and 21805.22, respectively. The BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.44%, while the Small cap index gained 0.77%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 3.74%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.42%, L&T up by 3.33%, HDFC Bank up by 3.23% and SBI up by 2.58%, while TCS down by 3.67%, Tata Motors down by 3.20%, Sun Pharma down by 2.64%, Gail India down by 2.31% and Coal India down 2.25% were the top losers in the index.

On the BSE Sectoral front, Capital Goods up by 2.77%, Realty up by 2.47%, Bankex up by 1.91%, Oil & Gas up by 1.12% and Power up by 0.74% were the top gainers, while IT down by 2.42%, Healthcare down by 1.67%, Teck down by 1.65%, Metal down by 1.03% and Consumer Durables down by 0.88% were the top losers in the space.

Meanwhile, concerned over the slow growth in Indian exports, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has emphasized that the government must expeditiously clear Rs 19,000 crore of duty refund claims as the mounting arrears is impacting the country’s overseas shipments. Highlighting liquidity as a big issue to domestic exports, FIEO President Rafeeque Ahmed asserted that despite repeated requests, the customs authorities have failed to clear the claims since October last year. Pending claims has now reached about Rs 19,000 crore and would reach at Rs 25,000 crore by end of the fiscal.

FIFO President added that pending claims are highest at JawaharLal Nehru sea port at Rs 3,059 crore followed by Chennai sea port with Rs 1,280 crore. Further, VAT claims in states like Maharashtra, West Bengal, Punjab and Tamil Nadu and are very high. Small and medium exporters would be the worst-hit due to delay in duty refund claims, he added.

The FIFO had already notified that India’s exports will fall short by about $10 billion from its set target of $325 billion for the current fiscal as the factors like declining manufacturing growth, pending duty refund claims and slow recovery in global demand are adversely impacting the country’s exports. However, the value of exports increased by 5.71% to $257.09 billion during April-January’FY14 as against $243.19 billion in the same period of previous fiscal year. FIEO is presently preparing a draft for the new Foreign Trade Policy for 2014-19 including measures to boost exports, which will be submitted to the new government in the next two and a half months time.

The CNX Nifty touched a high and low of 6,562.20 and 6,487.35 respectively.

The top gainers of the Nifty were IDFC up by 6.85%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 5.83%, IndusInd Bank up by 5.49%, Jaiprakash Associates up by 5.01% and Maruti Suzuki India up by 3.71%. On the other hand, TCS down by 3.75%, Tata Motors down by 3.36%, HCL Technologies down by 3.15%, Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries down by 3.14% and NMDC down 2.69% were the top losers.

Most of the European markets were trading in green, France's CAC 40 was up by 0.84% and United Kingdom's FTSE 100 was up by 0.41%, while Germany's DAX was down by 0.11%.

The Asian markets concluded Monday’s trade in red on disappointing Chinese trade data. Indonesia’s foreign reserves rose 2% last month, bolstered by persistent inflow of offshore funds, which were attracted to an improving economy. The reserves rose to $102.7 billion, the highest level in eight months, in February from $100.7 billion in January. An increase in foreign reserves is likely to bolster confidence in the markets even further. China’s Minister of Commerce stated that the country will meet its target of 7.5% growth in trade this year and also counseled a calm and responsible attitude when faced with rising trade disputes.

China’s exports unexpectedly fell 18.1% in February from a year earlier, leaving a trade deficit of $22.98 billion for the month. China’s posted a trade deficit in February compared with a surplus of $31.86 billion in January. On a Chinese currency basis, exports for the month were down 20.4% year on year while imports were up 7%. China’s consumer price index rose 2.0% in February from a year earlier, slower than a 2.5% on-year rise in January. The CPI also increased 0.5% in February from January. In January, it rose 1.0% from the preceding month.