Benchmarks extend gains in afternoon session on F&O expiry

Indian equity benchmarks added gains to continue firm trade in afternoon session, hovering at their life time high level amid a rally in banking, auto and power stocks supported by firm global cues and strong inflows by the foreign institutional investors. Global investors remained bullish on Indian markets on improving macro economic situation of the country. Not even an single instance of profit booking was witnessed since morning with major indices gaining strength to strength as sentiments got a boost after rating agency Moody’s reported that the sharp fall in India's current account deficit (CAD), will limit its vulnerability to global financial market volatility. FIIs continue to remain net buyers of Indian equities and brought shares worth Rs 1,004.52 crore in the previous session. Most of the BSE major indices were trading in green, though there were some weaknesses in defensive sector like IT and healthcare. Meanwhile, buying was broad based with mid cap and small cap indices outperforming the major indices.

Banking shares mainly public sector undertakings (PSUs) were in investors’ radar after Goldman Sachs upgraded ratings of state-owned banks. Talwalkars Better Value Fitness surged 12% to around Rs 178 on media reports that UK’s health and fitness group the David Lloyd is eyeing minority stake in the company. Gulf Oil Corporation has surged 7% to around Rs 113 after its board has decided to pay an interim dividend of Rs 2.50 per share.

On global front, Asian equity indices were trading in green with Nikkei 225 up by 0.13% and Shanghai Composite up by 0.18%. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,600 and 22,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,384 stocks traded, 1,461 stocks advanced, while 805 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 22,209.52 up by 114.22 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 22,216.95 and 22,094.29. 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 0.75%, while Small cap index up by 1.25%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.13%, Auto up by 1.03%, Power up by 1.02%, Oil and Gas up by 0.91% and Consumer Durables up by 0.84%. While, IT down by 0.31% and Healthcare down by 0.05% were the losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 3.93%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.03%, Hero Motocorp up by 1.96%, M&M up by 1.41% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.32%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 0.87%, SSLT down by 0.82%, Dr Reddy’s Lab down by 0.80%, TCS down by 0.78% and ONGC down by 0.68%.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court-appointed panel has permitted Iron ore production in Goa, India’s top exporting state of the raw ingredient for steel, with an annual cap of 20 million tonnes once the state sets up an adequate regulatory and monitoring mechanism.

The panel has also recommended that regulation and monitoring for these mines can be done by the department of mines and geology and Goa State Pollution Control Board in consultation with the Indian Bureau of Mines and the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Monitoring should continue for the mining activity, according to Supreme Court norms, till the panel’s scientific study is completed. The panel’s scientific study is expected to take a minimum of 12 months to complete. However, Supreme Court has to give final approval on the recommendations made by the committee..

Mining activities in Goa came to a grinding halt since the Supreme Court imposed mining ban in this region. Prior to ban, Goa used to export over 40 million tonnes iron ore per year accounting for about 70% of India's total iron ore exports. The latest move also came in as a major relief to Indian steel industry facing huge shortage of iron ore. During the April- February’ 2014 period, India exported 14.01 million tonnes of iron ore compared to 17.36 million tonnes in the year-ago period, showing a decline of 19.3%. Low domestic production and sluggish demand from China were the leading factors that attributed to decline in shipments.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,640.10 up by 38.70 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 6,642.80 and 6,599.50. There were only 35 stocks advancing against 15 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were BPCL up by 3.79%, SBI up by 3.65%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.25%, PNB up by 2.94% and Bank of Baroda up by 2.78%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 0.90%, SSLT down by 0.85%, Dr Reddy’s Lab down by 0.78%, ONGC down by 0.69% and TCS down by 0.64% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading in green;, Straits Times was up by 0.50% to 3,158.60, Jakarta Composite up by 0.34% to 4,744.28, Nikkei 225 up by 1.13% to 14,637.74, Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.48% to 8,779.57. Shanghai Composite up by 0.18% to 2,066.96. While, Hang Seng down by 0.02% to 21,882.49.