Markets continue to trade marginally in green

Indian equity benchmarks pared early gains, but continued to trade marginally in green led by gains in metal and FMCG stocks. Sentiments got some support as foreign institutional investors continued to remain net buyers and invested Rs 1,012 crore in Indian equities in the previous session. Metal index was the top gainer on BSE up by over 2.20% as value buying witnessed in the metal stocks. Infra stocks also remained on buyers’ radar, as the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that efforts to revive infrastructure investment would help in reverting to 8 percent growth in next three years. However, market gains remain capped amid selling witnessed in  IT and Teck stocks over the concerns that revenue for these sectors is likely to remain subdued in Q4 FY14. 

On stock specific movement, State Bank of Travancore surged 8% to around Rs 399 after the board fixed April 4 as the record date for payment of interim dividend. Ashok Leyland rose 1.14% to nearly Rs 17 after the company said it sold 50 lakh shares of IndusInd Bank through a combination of bulk deal and normal trading. 

On global front, Asian equity indices were trading mixed as investors adopted a wait-and-watch stance over the situation in Ukraine and ahead of the Federal Reserve policy review later today. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,500 and 21,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,360 stocks traded, 1225 stocks advanced, while 994 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 21,844.82 up by 12.22 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 21,895.83 and 21,795.94. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.42%, while Small cap index up by 0.46%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.23%, FMCG up by 1.12%, Healthcare up by 0.86%, Bankex up by 0.83% and Consumer Durables up by 0.61%. While, IT down by 0.47%, Teck down by 1.83% and Oil and Gas down by 0.15% were the losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco Inds up by 4.35%, Tata Steel up by 3.58%, Axis Bank up by 2.58%, SSLT up by 1.80% and HDFC up by 1.74%. On the flip side, TCS down by 4.16%, Infosys down by 2.27%, ONGC down by 1.77%, M&M down by 0.57% and Hero Motocorp down by 0.52%.

Meanwhile, attributed prevailing economic slowdown to sluggish global and domestic factors, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has stated that efforts to revive infrastructure investment would help the domestic economy to achieve its potential 8 percent growth rate in the next three years. Ahluwalia added that fundamentals of Indian economy are strong and providing impetus to the economic growth.

Ahluwalia further asserted that India is currently working to revive the pace of investment in infrastructure and also addressing certain domestic constraints like high inflation.  Indian economy’s growth slowed down to a decade low at 4.5 percent in FY13 and 4.6 percent during the first three quarters of FY14. The Government expected India’s GDP to grow by 4.9% in FY14, however, to reach the expected target, GDP needs to expand by 5.5% in Q4 FY14 that will be the highest growth rate since the Q3 FY12.

The infrastructure development is a most critical prerequisite to boost the economic growth. Meanwhile in order to expedite the implementation of infra projects, the government has been taking various measures. Recently, it has set up Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) to accord fast track clearances to large projects. Till now, the CCI had cleared around 210 projects worth Rs 3.84 lakh crore. During the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), the government has set the $1-trillion investment target for the infrastructure sector.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,520.25 up by 3.60 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 6,541.20 and 6,506. There were only 30 stocks advancing against 20 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Hindalco up by 4.35%, Tata Steel up by 3.85%, Axis Bank up by 2.59%, NMDC up by 2.05% and Lupin up by 1.88%. On the flip side, TCS down by 4.15%, Infosys down by 2.41%, ONGC down by 1.94%, HCL Tech down by 1.04% and Tata Power down by 0.92% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 up by 0.36% to 14,462.52 and Jakarta Composite up by 0.28% to 4,818.98. On the flip side, Hang Seng down by 0.21% to 21,537.39, Shanghai Composite down by 0.56% to 2,013.91, Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.49% to 8,689.46 and Straits Times was down by 0.66% to 3,073.25