Bluechips stocks lead gainers

Mon, 21 Apr Closing

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Maintaining the day-long momentum, the Indian equity markets closed today on an optimistic note. Ahead of quarterly earnings, many blue chip companies outperformed during the day. Stocks from sectors such as capital goods, banks, metals and automobiles were in much favor today. Notably, the BSE Small Cap and BSE Mid Cap indices outshined the benchmark indices and were up by 1.4% and 0.8% respectively. The BSE-Sensex closed higher by 136 points and the NSE-Nifty was up by 38 points.

On the global front, the Asian indices have closed the day on a mixed note and most of the European indices have opened the day on an optimistic note. The rupee was trading at Rs 60.45 to the dollar at the time of writing.

Barring few such as ING Vysya Bank and HDFC Bank amongst few others, all the stocks from the private banking space have closed the day in green. Leading the pack of gainers were the stocks of Karur Vysya Bank and Yes Bank.

As per a leading financial daily, HDFC Bank would find it difficult to raise its foreign institutional investment (FII) limit. That's because the change in foreign direct investment (FDI) policy five years ago deems the parent company Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) as a foreign owned company. HDFC bank aims to increase its current foreign shareholding limit from 49% to 67.55%. But the parent company being considered as foreign owned, the overseas shareholding limit for HDFC bank has already exceeded the permissible 74%. As per NSE, as at the March end foreign shareholders held 34.08% stake in HDFC bank. This combined with the parent HDFC's stake takes the foreign holding above 56.72%. Further 16.97% is held by foreign investors through American depository receipts (ADRs) and global depository receipts (GDRs). So cumulatively, these three investments add up to more than 73% of foreign shareholding for HDFC bank.

All the stocks in the Automobile space today closed the day in green. Leading the pack of gainers were Ashok Leyland and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M).

A leading financial daily reports that tractor sales in India have improved bringing hope to the dull automotive industry. The tractor sales have jumped 20% to all-time high of 6,33,656 units during 2013-14. 2013-14, however, has witnessed decline in both car and commercial vehicles' sales. Tractor sales for the fiscal gone by were primarily driven by increased mechanization in the farming sector, regular hikes in minimum prices for crops and the better-than expected rainfall last year that lead to increased farming activities. Also, the positive sentiments in rural areas have boosted the tractor sales during the year. If the scenario sustains, the sales are expected to report 8-10% growth in FY15 too. Moreover, the long-term outlook remains positive for the tractor industry that is expected to clock CAGR growth in the range of 10-12% in next five years.