The Indian markets recovering from the lows amid choppy trade, posted modest gains in the last session. Today, the start is likely to be in green taking cues from the regional peers, traders will also be taking support from Finance Minister P Chidambaram's statement that the country can grow at a sustained rate of 8-9 percent annually over the next 10-30 years. There will be buzz in the market with the government allowing 26% foreign investment in activities related to insurance like broking, third party administrators and surveyors and permitted FIIs and NRIs to also invest in insurers within stipulated cap. Though, there will be some cautiousness too with India’s private sector output contracting for the seventh consecutive month in January as services sector output remained weak amid tough economic conditions. There will be some action in the port and shipping stocks, as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved five port related projects involving at least Rs 17,600 crore investments to increase the capacity of the major ports by 150.74 million tonnes per annum.
There will be lots of important result announcements to keep the markets buzzing. Aban Offshore, ACC, Ambuja Cements, Aurobindo Pharma, Bajaj Corp, BoB, Central Bank, Elecon Engr, Electrosteel Steels, Gati, GSPL, GVK Power, Hindustan Media, Hindustan Motors, MRF and Reliance Power are among the many to announce their numbers.
The US markets ended marginally in red despite recovering from the day’s low. There was some concern with the report from ADP and Moody's Analytics showing that employment in the US private sector increased by less than expected in the month of January. The Asian markets have made an all green start taking cues from the strength in emerging market currencies after weak jobs data from US, however there was some cautiousness ahead of the US nonfarm payroll data on Friday.
Back home, snapping two days downfall, Indian equity benchmarks got sigh of relief on Wednesday with frontline gauges recapturing crucial 6,000 (Nifty) and 20,250 bastions with a gain of around quarter of a percent, as investors opted to buy beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks. Earlier, key domestic bourses made a sluggish opening amid lingering worries about the outlook for the global economy on the back of recent weak data from the US and China. But, markets staged a smart recovery in second half of the session and turned green, paring all of their initial losses, as some support came from Reserve Bank of India’s Governor Raghuram Rajan’s statement that the country is better prepared for ‘any eventuality’ in the economy now than it was six months ago. Sentiments also got some support from currency front where Indian rupee was trading strong against dollar on the back of appreciation of other currencies against the dollar. The rupee was at Rs 62.42 at the time of equity markets closing as compared with previous close of Rs 62.54 per dollar. Firm opening in European markets too aided the sentiments, while most of the Asian markets too ended mostly in the green. Back home, software and technology counters remained on buyers’ radar on news that Satya Nadella has been named the third CEO of Microsoft Corp. Stocks of export oriented companies too edged higher, as the RBI liberalised the third party payment norms for import of goods by removing the ceiling of $100,000. It has also simplified certain documentation norms related with third party payments for export and import transactions. Pharma stocks too edged higher, led by rally in Ranbaxy after the company reported narrower than expected net loss in December quarter. On the flip side, stocks related to sugar space like, Shree Renuka Sugars, Bajaj Hindusthan, Balrampur Chini, Triveni Engineering etc. remained under pressure, as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) deferred a decision on fixing subsidy for exports of raw sugar, amid differences between food and agriculture ministries. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 49.10 points or 0.24%, to settle at 20261.03, while the CNX Nifty added 21.50 points or 0.36% to settle at 6,022.40.
