Benchmarks continue to trade firm in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade firm in afternoon session on the back of buying witnessed in oil and gas and realty stocks. Firm global cues coupled with some optimistic industry related announcements on domestic front has enthused the major indices to extend their gains. Most of the sectoral indices were trading in green with oil and gas as the top gaining index. However a marginal downfall from intra-day high level was seen on account of sharp selling witnessing in IT, teck and metal stocks. Global cues too remained supportive as the European Central Bank, at its policy meeting yesterday, took some measures to boost the euro zone economy. Oil and gas stocks were on buyer's radar amid reports that the oil ministry may consult the Prime Minister’s Office for raising prices of liquefied petroleum gas and kerosene. Further, investors were also seen piling up position in sugar stocks as the government is planning to increase export subsidy. Apart from blue chips, broader indices too equally participated in the rally with both mid cap and small cap indices trading up by over 1.00%.

Videocon Industries has firmed up by around 1.6% to Rs 187 after announcing collaboration with Huawei to launch the state-of-the-art 4G LTE-ready Packet Core technology in India. Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) Bank rose around 1.9% to Rs 1600 as it is planning to sell its 5% stake in PNB MetLife India Insurance Company for about Rs 700 crore. On the other hand, TCS was declined around 1.8% to Rs 2,067 as the stock turned ex-dividend today, 6 June 2014 for final dividend of Rs 20 per share for the year ended 31 March 2014.

On global front, Asian equity indices were trading mixed with Hang Seng down by 0.22% to and Jakarta Stock Index up by 0.34% to 4,952.51. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 7,500 and 25,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,779 stocks traded, 1,778 stocks advanced, while 891 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25,172.51 up by 153 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 25,258.98 and 25,129.76. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading up; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.10%, while Small cap index up by 1.06%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil and Gas up by 3.31%, Realty up by 3.17%, Bankex up by 1.25%, Infrastructure index up by 1.00% and Healthcare up by 0.76%. While, IT down by 1.36%, Teck down by 0.92%, Metal down by 0.65% and Power down by 0.42% were the losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 5.84%, Gail India up by 3.61%, RIL up by 2.68%, Hero Motocorp up by 2.25% and ICICI Bank up by 2.02%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.22%, Hindalco Inds down by 1.92%, SSLT down by 1.73%, TCS down by 1.70% and HUL down by 0.98% were the top losers on the BSE.

Meanwhile, an expert committee set up to review the functioning of LPG scheme, has recommended the reinstatement of the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme for LPG as it helps prevent pilferages. The committee headed by former Director of IIT Kanpur S G Dhande in its report highlighted that, based on the evaluation of the scheme, feedback from various stakeholders and audit reports, the scheme was successful in achieving its objectives such as reducing diversion, eliminating ghost/duplicate connections and improving LPG availability. Therefore, scheme can be re-launched in the districts where it has already been implemented.

The Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) scheme was rolled out in 291 districts of the country under which the subsidy was directly shifted to Aadhaar-linked consumers’ bank accounts. About Rs 5,400 crore was transferred to more than 2.8 crore LPG consumers across the country. However, the scheme was put on hold from March 7 following complaints from consumers that either they have problems in seeding their accounts with the sponsor banks or didn’t have the Aadhaar number.

The committee has suggested use of cooperative banks, post offices and centralised grievances redressal mechanism for the better implementation of the scheme. The committee report highlighted that people's access to banking should be improved and postal network should consider rolling out micro ATMs connected through core banking solution inter-operable with other scheduled banks through Aadhaar Payment Bridge. It also recommended reduction in the value-added tax rate on LPG cylinders delivered to consumer as the sale happens at full market price. Further, the government could share part of this recurring saving by a one-time incentive like reimbursing the full cost of the first cylinder.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7,509.30 up by 35.20 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 7,535.10 and 7,497.65. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were ONGC up by 6.01%, GAIL up by 3.73%, DLF up by 3.60%, Bank of Baroda up by 2.65% and BPCL up by 2.51%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.37%, Hindalco Inds down by 2.21%, SSLT down by 1.81%, TCS down by 1.73% and Jindal Steel down by 1.43% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted down by 0.07% to 9,134.46, Shanghai Composite down by 0.69% to 2,026.71 and Hang Seng down by 0.22% to 23,058.99. While, Jakarta Stock Index up by 0.34% to 4,952.51 and Straits Times up by 0.54% to 3,298.35