Benchmarks continue firm trade in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade firm in late morning session on fresh buying by funds and retail investors amid positive global cues. Sentiments remained bullish on hopes that the new government led by Narendra Modi will unleash reforms and take tough decisions to mend India's economy. Some support also came in from currency front as rupee firmed up against the US dollar tracking gains in equities. Further, Jewellery stocks were back in demand after the Reserve Bank of India eased gold import rules by allowing select trading houses, in addition to already permitted banks, to procure the precious metal to boost exports. In scrip specific development, Bajaj Auto was up nearly 3% after the Egypt government lifted the ban on three-wheeler imports which was in effect since February. Further, shares of UCO Bank were trading firm after reporting a five-fold jump in net profit at Rs 108.25 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31 2014. While, Infosys and Wipro were trading lower. The market is likely to remain range bound in the near term with positive bias and await the cabinet formation at the centre. On the global front, Asian shares rose after an upbeat reading on China's factory sector blunted some of the more pessimistic views on the world's second-biggest economy. Moreover, US stocks surge on Wednesday, rebounding from the previous day's broad selloff, after minutes of the Federal Reserve's last meeting showed central bankers have discussed the eventual tightening of monetary policy but made no decisions on which tools to use. Back home, traders were seen piling positions in Consumer Durables, Metal and Realty stocks while selling was witnessed in IT and Teck sector stocks. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2405 stocks traded, 1888 stocks advanced, while 442 stocks declined on the BSE. The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24457.72 up by 159.70 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 24475.78 and 24347.78. 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 2.08%, while Small cap index up by 2.34%. The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 7.12%, Metal up by 3.20%, Realty up by 2.74%, PSU up by 2.34% and power up by 1.82%. While, IT down by 0.34% and Teck down by 0.30% were the only losing indices on BSE.   The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 6.84%, Maruti Suzuki up by 4.85%, SSLT up by 3.79%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.89% and NTPC up by 2.85%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.52%, HDFC Bank down by 1.16%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.04%, Hindalco down by 1.00% and Wipro down by 0.81%. Meanwhile, in a move that will bring down prices of gold in the domestic market, especially in peak wedding season, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has eased gold import norms by allowing seven more private agencies for shipping precious metal, in addition to those already permitted banks. With this, gold imports by India, the world's No. 2 bullion consumer after China, could quickly rise from current levels as more than twenty entities, including state-run banks, private banks and agencies will now be allowed to import yellow metal. In order to control burgeoning Current Account Deficit (CAD) and sliding rupee, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in July, 2013 had imposed severe restrictions on gold imports. The central bank had tied imports with exports and prescribed a 20:80 formula and the facility was only available to select banks. However, with recent development, Star Trading Houses/Premier Trading Houses (STH/PTH), which are registered as nominated agencies by the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), may now import gold under 20:80 scheme, which would imply that an importer has to ensure that at least one-fifth, or 20%, of every lot of imported gold is exclusively made available for the purpose of exports and the balance for domestic use. In a separate development, RBI also allowed banks to grant gold loans to domestic jewellery makers, a practice that was stopped last year. In absence of gold loans, jewellers had been forced to take credit to fund purchases, which substantially added to their cost and pressurized their profit margins. The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7,299.70 up by 46.80 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 7,300.05 and 7,258.15. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 declining on the index. The top gainers of the Nifty were Coal India up by 7.23%, Maruti Suzuki up by 4.61%, SSLT up by 4.23%, IDFC up by 3.52% and DLF up by 3.50%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.81%, UltraTech Cement down by 1.38%, HCL Tech down by 1.26%, HDFC Bank down by 1.18% and Hindalco down by 1.06% were the major losers on the index. Most of Asian markets were trading in green; Hang Seng up by 0.77%, Jakarta Composite up by 1.05%, Nikkei 225 increased by 2.26%, Straits Times surged 1.05%, KLSE Composite up by 0.08%. Shanghai Composite was up by 0.57%, and Taiwan Weighted was up by 1.02%. On the flip side, Seoul Composite dipped by 0.10%.