Markets continue to trade in green

Indian equity benchmarks were trading in green in afternoon session after recovering from their early lows amid renewed buying interest in defensive shares which had witnessed profit booking in the recent rally pushing markets to new record high level. However, the markets’ gains remained range bound as investors also remained cautious ahead of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data for January and Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for the month of February scheduled to be announced later today. Depreciation in rupee value and weak global cues also dented the sentiments. On sector specific movement, defensive sectors were among the top sectoral gainers on the BSE with FMCG and Healthcare indices up over 1.20% followed by IT stocks up by over 0.40% on the back of rupee depreciation. On the other hand, metal stocks were remained under pressure amid concerns over drop in prices of industrial metals such as copper and iron in China.

Vardhman Textiles has moved higher by 4% to around Rs 342 after Baring India has bought an additional over 1% stake in the company for total consideration of Rs 25 crore via open market. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, after falling nearly 7% in past four trading sessions, was trading higher by around 3.5% at nearly Rs 600.

On global front, Asian equity indices were trading in red with Nikkei 225 down by 2.53% and Hang Seng down by 1.56% as global investors remained concerned over the prevailing economic slowdown in the world's second largest economy, China. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,500 and 21,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,399 stocks traded, 1,173 stocks advanced, while 1,106 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 21,907.41 up by 80.99 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 21,965.95 and 21,768.14. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.37%, while Small cap index up by 0.22%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.51%, Consumer Durables up by 1.38%, Healthcare up by 1.28%, IT up by 0.40% and Teck up by 0.37%. While, Capital Goods down by 0.79%, Power down by 0.20% Auto down by 0.32% and Oil and Gas down by 0.08% were the losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.94%, ITC up by 2.35%, Hero Motocorp up by 1.87%, Wipro up by 1.25% and ICICI Bank up by 1.17%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 1.48%, L&T down by 1.36%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.35%, Hindalco Inds down by 1.32% and SBI down by 1.13%.

Meanwhile, in a decision that knocked the rupee, India has put on hold plans to join major emerging market bond indexes, which have had required removal of restrictions on capital inflows. Additionally, separate plan to explore joining Euroclear, the world's largest securities settlement system, has also been deferred until the next government comes to power after General elections-2014.

Earlier, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan had initiated talks with index compilers, including JP Morgan with a view of attracting billions of investment dollars after the rupee tumbled to a record low last August. Further, according to Standard Chartered Bank estimates, the country could potentially attract $20 billion to $40 billion in additional inflows over a year as India hoped to join the government bond indices by December.

However, the plan reportedly has been dumped over differences of abolishing investment limits on FIIs (foreign institutional investors) in government bonds.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,527.00 up by 15.10 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 6,546.15 and 6,487.30. There were only 24 stocks advancing against 26 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 3.01%, ITC up by 2.37%, Hero Motocorp up by 1.74%, NMDC up by 1.56% and Wipro up by 1.29%. On the flip side, Bank of Baroda down by 2.45%, IDFC down by 2.25%, BHEL down by 1.82%, PNB down by 1.70% and Ultratech Cement down by 1.70% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading in red; Nikkei 225 down by 385.88 points or 2.53% to 14,839.57, Hang Seng down by 347.87 points or 1.56% to 21,921.74, Straits Times was down by 19.55 points or 0.62% to 3,110.18, Shanghai Composite down by 8.88 points or 0.40% to 1,991.81, Jakarta Composite down by 15.82 points or around 0.34% to 4,688.39 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.20% to 8,984.73.