Markets trade slightly higher in early deals

After witnessing drubbing in previous session, Indian equity benchmarks have made a positive start as investors opted to pile-up positions in beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks. Sentiments remained up-beat on report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth net Rs 366.18 crore on June 18, 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. Meanwhile, Railways related stocks remained on buyers’ radar, as the commerce and industry ministry has initiated the exercise to allow 100% FDI in several segments of railways, moving beyond its earlier plan to open select sectors.

Global cues too remained supportive with the US markets ending higher in last session, reacting to the dovish statement of Federal Reserve’s monetary policy. Though, Fed’s projections showed a slight uptick in expectations for rates at the end of next year. The Asian markets too were trading mostly in the green at this point of time and some of the indices rose to their six-year high after the dollar weakened after US Federal Reserve said that interest rates will remain low.

Back home, on the sectoral front, software, technology and consumer durables witnessed the maximum gains in trade, while oil and gas and public sector undertaking remained the only losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were trading in-line with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1293 shares on the gaining side against 537 shares on the losing side while 67 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 25327.09; around 81 point higher compared to its previous closing of 25246.25, and has touched a high and a low of 25425.85 and 25318.79 respectively. The index is currently trading at 25328.96, up by 82.71 points or 0.33%. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 68.16% stocks advancing against 28.31% declines. The broader indices too were trading in the green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices up by 0.59% and 0.87% respectively. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, while IT up by 1.06%, TECk up by 1.02%, Consumer Durables up by 0.84%, Power up by 0.64% and Infrastructure up by 0.50%, while Oil and Gas down by 0.47% and PSU down by 0.20% were the only losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 1.49%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.05%, TCS up by 0.94%, M&M up by 0.87% and Wipro up by 0.87%. On the flip side, ONGC was down by 2.87%, Maruti Suzuki was down by 0.83%, Coal India was down by 0.75%, Hindalco was down by 0.39% and Bajaj Auto was down by 0.29% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, with an aim to enhance the infrastructure development in the country, the government is considering a special public-private partnership (PPP) platform to renegotiate already bid projects under PPP mode.

Allowing renegotiation after a project is bid out has emerged as a key challenge in most infrastructure sectors and the government is likely to set a resolution panel soon in line with global practices. Most countries have a provision for renegotiation of contracts under the PPP mode. On the other hand, the renegotiation of contracts under the PPP mode has been done very selectively in India. The move is likely to provide impetus to the big infrastructure products which are implemented under the PPP mode.

The development of the infrastructure sector is most critical prerequisite to boost the economic growth of any country. Infrastructure sector primarily comprises of power, ports, railways, roads, irrigation, water supply and airports. At present, Indian economy is struggling with slowdown and growth and prevailing economic downturn can be attributed partly to global factors and mainly to slow reforms and delays in implementation of projects in the country. Meanwhile, to boost the infrastructure sector, India's government has proposed an investment of $1 trillion for the infrastructure sector during the 12th Five Year Plan, with 50 percent of the funds coming from the private sector.

The CNX Nifty opened at 7,580.05; about 22 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 7,558.20, and has touched a high and a low of 7,606.45 and 7,549.70 respectively. The index is currently trading at 7,564.15, up by 5.95 points or 0.08%. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Infosys up by 1.74%, Tata Motors up by 0.92%, Wipro up by 0.91%, TCS up by 0.83% and HUL up by 0.83%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 3.04%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.53%, McDowell down by 2.08%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.43% and Coal India down by 0.96% were the major losers on the index.

Nikkei 225 soared 254.18 points or 1.68% to 15,369.98, Hang Seng increased by 68.84 points or 0.30% to 23,250.56, Straits Times surged 3.48 points or 0.11% to 3,280.28, Taiwan Weighted rose 35.37 points or 0.38% to 9,315.30 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 0.81 points or 0.04% to 1,877.39.

On the flip side, KOSPI Index declined by 1.31 points or 0.07% to 1,988.18, Jakarta Composite contracted 14.05 points or 0.29% to 4,873.81 and Shanghai Composite was down by 10.03 points or 0.49% to 2,045.49.