Benchmarks add gains; trade continues in green

Indian equity benchmarks added gains were trading in green hovering near the highest point of the day in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline counters. Investors have started eyeing the maiden budget of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley which will be presented in the first week of July. The Finance Minister has kicked off pre-budget consultations with different interest groups from today, starting with the representatives of the farm sector. The sentiments got a boost after news agency quoted that according to India Meteorological Department official the conditions have turned favourable for the monsoon onset in India. Traders were seen piling up positions in Metal, Power and India Infrastructure Index stocks, while selling was witnessed in Bankex sector stocks. Hectic activity was witnessed in shares of fertilizer companies on hopes that new government will soon clear its 2013/14 outstanding subsidy payments for the sector. In scrip specific development, Lancor Holdings, the real estate company, was trading firm after receiving approval from the board of directors for merger of its two subsidiaries Lancor Realty and Lancor GST Developments with itself. Suzlon Energy was trading in green touching 52-week high after the world’s largest turbine maker has received a 100.8 MW order from ReNew Wind Power.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading on a mixed note, while the European markets traded mostly on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 7,400 and 24,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 2083:804 while 85 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24935.53, up by 129.70 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 24949.33 and 24644.88. There were 21 stocks advancing against94 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading up; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.90%, while Small cap index up by 1.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.79%, Power up by 1.73%, Infrastructure Index up by 1.22%, Capital Goods up by 1.44% while, Bankex down by 0.13% was the sole loser on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were SSLT up by 6.37%, Hindalco Industries up by 3.55%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.88%, Tata Motors up by 2.87% and Tata Steel up by 2.73%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.11%, HDFC Bank down by 0.95%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.93%, Cipla down by 0.90% and M&M down by 0.53% were the top losers on the BSE.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narandera Modi met the Secretaries of all government departments to outline his agenda of governance and his expectations from them. Prime Minister asked secretaries to prepare the future agenda of the departments and directly get in touch with him to resolve issues and expedite decision-making. Prime Minister has asserted that Government’s priority is to revamp the economy and asked the officials to prepare presentations on the contributions their Ministries can make for the revival.

With a view of giving the bureaucracy a greater role in decision-making, Narendra Modi held a three-hour-long marathon meeting with Secretaries without ministers. Building confidence in the bureaucracy is a top priority for the Government as it can play a key role in implementing the policies of the ruling government, he added. Meanwhile, many Ministers had already offered a free hand to the bureaucrats.

Prime Minister had already told ministers to prepare a detailed action plan for the first 100 days in office and resolve all issues left pending by the previous government on a priority basis. Prime Minister’s latest agenda for good governance highlighted 10-point framework include build up confidence in bureaucracy, give priority to education, health, water and power, mechanism for inter-ministerial issues, addressing concerns about economy, stability and sustainability in government policy, give bureaucrats independence to work without pressure, transparency in governance, infrastructure development, implement policy in time bound manner and people orientated system for better addressing people’s problems. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7,449.70, up by 47.45 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 7,456.00 and 7,360.50. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 declining ones on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were SSLT up by 6.33%, Cairn India up by 4.34%, BPCL up by 4.13%, Jindal Steel up by 3.77% and Hindalco Industries up by 3.48%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.06%, Cipla down by 1.05%, HDFC Bank down by 0.91%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.71% and ICICI Bank down by 0.61% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted up by 0.23%, Shanghai Composite up by 0.79% and Nikkei 225 up by 0.08%. While, Hang Seng down by 0.18%, Jakarta Stock Index down by 0.14% and Straits Times down by 0.02% were the losers on the index.  

The European markets were trading mostly in red; UK’s FTSE 100 lost 0.21%, Germany’s DAX was down by 0.12% while, France’s CAC 40 was up by 0.15%.