Benchmarks continue firm trade in late morning

After hitting all-time high, Indian equity benchmarks continued their firm trade in late morning deals, as buying emerged at higher levels in select heavyweights on the back of supportive cues from global peers. Sentiments remained up-beat on report that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 14.79 crore on saturday, as per provisional data from the National Stock Exchange.

Some support to the markets also came in from report that retail inflation for farm workers and rural labourers eased to 8.14 percent and 8.27 percent respectively in February from 9.08 percent and 9.21 percent in January, mainly due to decrease in prices of food items. Sentiments remained firm after Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has exuded confidence that whoever forms the next government would be in a position to implement key reforms, including the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Further, rupee appreciation against the US dollar also added to optimistic sentiments

On the global front, All the Asian equity indices edged higher at this point of time, with the regional indices paring last week’s losses, as Japanese markets surged after an extended weekend and as investors were unfazed by a drop in Chinese manufacturing. Back home, traders were buying, Bankex, Oil & Gas and PSU stocks, while selling was seen in Consumer Durables and Healthcare.

The market breadth on BSE remains positive with advances to declines in the ratio of 1168:987. BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty were comfortably trading near their psychological 22,000 and 6,550 levels respectively. The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 22006.27 up by 250.95 points or 1.15% after trading in a range of 22046.58 and 21827.50. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index. The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.29% and Small cap index up by 0.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Bankex up by 2.15%, Oil & Gas up by 1.65%, PSU up by 1.49%, Realty up by 1.34% and Power up by 1.02%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.12% and Healthcare down by 0.11% were the only losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 3.63%, Coal India up by 2.62%, Axis Bank up by 2.22%, HDFC Bank up by 2.17% and ONGC  up by 2.05%. On the flip side, Hindalco was down by 1.57%, Tata Steel was down by 1.06%,  Dr Reddys Lab was down by 0.68%, Wipro was down by 0.30%  and Sun Pharma was down by 0.19% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, The inflation based on consumer price index (CPI) for agriculture and rural workers eased to 8.14 percent and 8.27 percent in February on y-o-y basis from 9.08 percent and 9.21 percent in January mainly driven by the decrease in prices of food items. Food inflation index of Consumer Price Index-Agriculture Labourers (CPI-AL) and Consumer Price Index-Rural Labourers (CPI-RL) were eased to 6.85 percent and 6.99 percent during the reported month.

India CPI-AL and CPI-RL for February, 2014 remained stationary at 757 points and 759 points respectively. The rise and fall in index varied from State to State. In case of Agricultural Labourers, the retail inflation index recorded an increase between 2 to 9 points in 11 States and a decrease between 1 to 9 points in 8 States. The index however, remained stationary in 1 State. Haryana with 843 points topped the index table whereas Himachal Pradesh with the index level of 623 points stood at the bottom. In case of Rural Labourers, it recorded an increase between 1 to 7 points in 12 States, and a decrease between 1 to 8 points in 8 States. Haryana with 836 points topped the index table whereas Himachal Pradesh State with the index level of 656 points stood at the bottom.

The inflation index for Agricultural and Rural workers in Rajasthan State registered the maximum increase of 9 points and 7 points respectively mainly due to increase in the prices of wheat, bajra, pulses, gingely oil, milk, ghee among others. On the other hand, Andhra Pradesh State registered the maximum decrease of 9 points and 8 points in inflation index for Agricultural and Rural Labourers driven by lower prices of rice, jowar, ragi, groundnut oil and onion among others.  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,570.15 up by 75.25 points or 1.16% after trading in a range of 6,580.90 and 6,510.50. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 3.62%, IndusInd Bank up by 2.74%, Coal India up by 2.66%, Kotak Bank up by 2.39%, Axis Bank up by 2.28%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 1.69%, Tata Steel down by 1.17%, Wipro down by 0.54% ,DR Reddy down by 0.41% and Jindal Steel  down by 0.36%  were the top losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite surged by 8.26 points or 0.40% to 2,055.88, Hang Seng rose 310.99 points or 1.45% to 21,747.69, Jakarta Composite climbed 10.90 points or 0.23% to 4,711.11, KLSE Composite soared 10.07 points or 0.55% to 1,830.55, Nikkei 225 increased 237.10 points or 1.71% to 14,467.62, Straits Times added by 33.52 points or 1.07% to 3,106.40, Taiwan Weighted was up by 6.26 points or 0.01% to 8,578.23  and KOSPI Composite was up by 7.46 points or 0.35% to 1,941.75.