Firm trade prevails; Nifty holds 6500 mark

Indian equities trimmed minor gains but continued their firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of profit booking in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments were on positive mood from early trades after factory output posted growth for the first time in four months at 0.1% in January and retail inflation eased higher than expected at a 25-month low level of 8.10% in February. Traders were seen piling positions in PSU, Oil & Gas and Bankex stocks while selling was witnessed in IT, TECK and Realty sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Jubilant Life Sciences was trading in green on announcing a price increase of 18% for Niacin feed-grade, with immediate effect. Infosys was trading in red as investors were worried about the software company after executive chairman Narayana Murthy stated that he is not at all happy at the way the company has performed. Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries was trading in red after the USFDA issued import alert for its Karkhadi unit. The import alert is for all products manufactured at Karkhadi unit.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading on a mixed note, while the European markets were too trading on pessimistic note. 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 in the ratio of 1394:1210 while 150 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 21923.21, up by 66.99 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 21991.36 and 21720.13. There were 26 stocks advancing against only 3 stocks declining while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were too trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.54%, while Small cap index was up by 0.48%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 2.52%, Oil & Gas up by 2.43%, Bankex up by 1.94%, Auto up by 1.31% and Metal up by 1.06%. While, IT down by 3.29%, TECK down by 2.69%, Realty down by 0.58% and HealthCare down by 0.48% were the only losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC Bank up by 3.09%, Hindalco Industries up 2.70%, ONGC up by 2.54%, M&M up by 2.52%, and Coal India up by 2.33%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 8.57%, Sun Pharma down by 3.97% and TCS down by 0.36% were the only losers on the index.

Meanwhile, amid concerns over the increasing imports of electronics products, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) President R Chandrashekhar has asserted that Indian imports of electronics by 2020 will increase two fold over the present figure of oil imports. Observing that policy decisions to boost industry growth does not come in the manner as it should be, NASSCOM President emphasized that Industry in the country is still not focused on policy making and is currently playing the role of only a regulating body. In the manufacturing sector, there are two industry bodies, one representing the domestic industry players and other global players.

R Chandrashekhar added that consultation in policy making is essential and expressed the need for the presence of different bodies like NASSCOM. Now, it has become imperative that country’s premium institutions like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) should come forward and make changes with policy makers and industry bodies. The Centre for Technology and Policy set up by IIT can play an important role in promotion and assessment of public policies introduced by technological and scientific innovations, and identification of key technology gaps in meeting developmental goals in key areas.

Rising India’s imports of electronics projects reflects the need to enhance investment to boost domestic manufacturing of electronics products. However, the government has also taken several measures like preferential market access policy in order to boost local production. The National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) has recently floated a plan to set up a billion-dollar venture capital fund to increase domestic production of electronic products especially telecom equipment and devices.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,542.50, up by 25.60 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 6,561.45 and 6,487.55. There were 40 stocks advancing against 9 declining ones while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were BPCL up by 9.00%, Kotak Bank up by 3.98%, HDFC Bank up 3.16%, M&M up by 2.63% and ONGC up by 2.62%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 8.67%, Sun Pharma down by 4.02%, DLF down by 1.40%, Ranbaxy Laboratories down by 1.05% and Jindal Steel down by 0.83% were the top losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 was down by 0.10 %, Hang Seng down by 0.67%, Straits Times descended by 0.58% and KLSE Composite slipped 0.05%.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite gained 1.07%, Jakarta Composite added up by 0.79%, Seoul Composite inched up 0.10% and Taiwan Weighted advanced 0.73%.

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 was down 0.04%, Germany’s DAX dropped 0.16% and UK’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.28%.