Firm trade prevails; Nifty holds 6650 mark

Benchmarks added gains to continue their firm trade in green in the late afternoon session on account of buying in front line counters taking cues from global counterparts. The sentiments were on an optimistic note as foreign investors have been plowing more than $2 billion into Indian stocks in February and March, a reversal from the start of 2014. The rupee touching the 60-mark against the dollar after a gap of eight months in early trade on fresh selling of the US currency by exporters and banks, while persistent foreign capital inflows too lifted the sentiments. Investors however started taking cautious approach ahead of RBI’s monetary policy review, wherein its chief Raghuram Rajan always manages to surprise the markets. Traders were seen piling positions in Power, PSU and Realty stocks while selling was witnessed in FMCG and Capital Goods sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Everonn Education was trading in green after the board members approved the preferential allotment of 10 lakh shares to promoter on loan conversion.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in green, while the European markets were too trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,650 and 22,200 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1518:1109 while 149 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 22255.73, up by 41.36 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 22363.97 and 22185.11. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.17%, while Small cap index up by 0.91%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.81%, PSU up 1.70%, Realty up by 1.61%, Metal up by 1.16% and Oil & Gas up by 0.89%. While, FMCG down by 0.29% and Capital Goods down by 0.18% were the only losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco Industries up by 3.23%, SBI up by 3.12%, NTPC up by 2.22%, Tata Power up by 1.94% and Coal India up by 1.70%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 1.29%, HDFC Bank down by 1.03%, ITC down by 0.86%, L&T down by 0.73% and HUL down by 0.70%.

Meanwhile, in order to give more operational flexibility to country’s exporters and importers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) relaxed some restrictions relating to hedging of currency risk of probable exposures of exporters and importers.

The RBI notified that importers and exporters can cancel up to 75 percent of their hedged forex exposures, as against 25 percent earlier. The profit or loss from these cancellations will be borne by the importer/exporter instead of passing it on to the customers as was mandated earlier. Further, the notification added that the contracts in excess of 75 per cent of the eligible limit shall be on deliverable basis and cannot be cancelled.

Regarding the procedure for determination of eligible limit, the central bank noted that eligible limit in the case of exporters is computed as the average of the previous three financial years’ (April to March) actual export turnover or the previous year’s actual export turnover, whichever is higher. In the case of importers, the eligible limit is calculated as 25 percent of the average of the previous three financial years’ actual import turnover or the previous year’s actual import turnover, whichever is higher.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,664.10, up by 22.35 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 6,684.95 and 6,643.80. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were PNB up by 4.82%, Bank of Baroda up 3.87%, Ultratech Cement up by 3.46%, Hindalco Industries up by 3.43% and SBI up by 3.26%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 1.38%, Cairn India down 1.29%, Jindal Steel down by 1.08%, HDFC Bank down by 1.00% and ITC down by 0.96% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Straits Times was up by 0.29%, Jakarta Composite up by 0.72%, Nikkei 225 up by 0.50%, Hang Seng surged 1.06% and KLSE Composite was up 0.04% while, Shanghai Composite down by 0.24% and Taiwan Weighted down by 0.06% were the losers on the index.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 was up 0.42%, Germany’s DAX added 0.63% and UK’s FTSE 100 gained 0.36%.