Markets continue to trade firm in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade firm in afternoon session amid firm global cues and buying witnessed in frontline blue chip stocks such as ITC, Tata Steel and ICICI bank among others. Though, the major indices were following a tight range, gain in FMCG and oil and gas stocks has provided support to the markets. Most of the major sectoral indices were trading in green with FMCG remaining the top gainer index on BSE, up by around 0.95%. However, there was mild weakness in the IT and technology sector stocks. Sentiments got a boost after PMEAC’s chairman C Rangarajan stated that country’s current account deficit (CAD) will come to around 2% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the coming few years, on the back of reduction in import of gold and some signs of decline in inflation. Buying was broad based with both mid and small cap indices were trading up by over 0.45%. . Piramal Enterprises stocks soared by 5.4% on the news that Piramal Enterprises will merge 3 of its subsidiaries with the parent company.  Atul Limited, extending its previous day’s 19% rally, surged over 8% to around Rs 705, after reporting an over two-fold jump in standalone net profit at Rs 51.56 crore for Q4 FY14. On the other hand, Canara Bank declined by around 2.1% after reporting a 15.7% decline in net profit to Rs 611 crore for Q4 FY14. On global front, Asian equity indices were trading in green with Shanghai Composite up by 0.25% and Straits Times up by 0.15%. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,700 and 22,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,279 stocks traded, 1,217 stocks advanced, while 953 stocks declined on the BSE. The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 22,535.87 up by 90.75 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 22,602.71 and 22,512.23. 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 0.48%, while Small cap index gained 0.55%. The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.95%, Oil and Gas up by 0.90%, Consumer Durables up by 0.72%, Capital Goods up by 0.71% and Bankex up by 0.56%. While, IT down by 0.38% and Teck down by 0.26% were the losing indices on BSE.    The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 1.66%, ICICI Bank up by 1.48%, Tata Steel up by 1.45%, ONGC up by 1.12% and Tata Motors up by 1.07%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 0.98%, hero Motocorp down by 0.89%, Hindalco Inds down by 0.79%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.73% and TCS down by 0.62%. Meanwhile, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has urged the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to increase its annual lending capacity to $20 billion in the next ten years, in order to meet the development needs of the member-countries. Over the past three years, annual lending capacity of ADB under Ordinary Capital Resources (OCR) has been hovering around $10-11 billion. Chidambaram highlighted that development needs of the members are quite large and growing; therefore the ADB should be sufficiently resourced to assist its members to address challenges like fighting poverty or developing infrastructure. He also requested the members to give this issue a serious consideration and quickly come to an agreement for increasing the annual lending capacity of ADB to $20 billion in the next 10 years. Further, Finance Minister added that the Sustainable Level of Lending (SLL) should be increased by adopting a comprehensive strategy of augmenting income and reducing expenses. Stagnant or declining disbursements coupled with rising administrative expenses and are the main reasons behind sharp decline of SLL from $11 billion projected earlier. Actual administrative expenses have been growing at over 10 per cent per annum, while disbursements have averaged only around $6.5 billion. On increasing the SLL limit, Chidambaram said that fundamental solution for enhancing the SLL to a more meaningful level lies in increasing the capital stock of the bank and shareholders need to periodically contribute to the capital to help the bank discharge its responsibilities. The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,724.50 up by 25.15 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 6,743.45 and 6,717.90. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 declining on the index. The top gainers of the Nifty were ITC up by 1.60%, ICICI Bank up by 1.59%, ACC up by 1.54%, DLF up by 1.47% and Tata Steel up by 1.33%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.03%, Ambuja Cement down by 1.01%, Hindalco down by 0.97%, Hero motocorp down by 0.86% and TCS down by 0.66% were the major losers on the index. Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite up by 0.25% to 2,032.49, Straits Times up by 0.15% to 3,246.64, Jakarta Composite up by 0.05% to 4,845.65 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.47% to 8,912.39.