Benchmarks make gap-up opening; Nifty surpasses 8,000 mark

Indian equity benchmarks have made a gap-up opening and are trading jubilantly in early deals on Monday with frontline gauges surpassing their crucial 8,000 (Nifty) and 26,800 (Sensex) levels. Sentiments remained up-beat after India’s economic growth accelerated to two-and-half year high of 5.7 per cent in the April-June quarter on the back of improvement in mining, manufacturing and services sector performance. Some support also came in with Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan's statement that India is now better prepared to handle the impact of any US interest rate increase because of signs its economy is improving.

Global cues too remained supportive with the US markets ending higher on Friday with the S&P 500 setting all-time highs above the 2,000 milestone. There were slew of positive economic data that supported the markets for the day. The Asian markets too were trading in the green at this point of time as traders in the region weighed the prospect of stimulus by the Chinese policy makers after reports of slower manufacturing growth.

Back home, there was broad based buying witnessed in the markets and apart from the blue chips, the broader markets too equally participated in the rally. On the sectoral front, capital goods, public sector undertakings and metal witnessed the maximum gains in trade, while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were trading with traction, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1401 shares on the gaining side against 523 shares on the losing side while 74 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 26733.18; around 95 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 26638.11, and has touched a high and a low of 26842.68 and 26732.39 respectively. The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26832.73, up by 194.62 points or 0.73%. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The overall market breadth remained in the favour of advances with 70.12% stocks advancing against 26.18% declines. The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.05%, while Small cap index up by 0.99%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.95%, PSU up by 1.36%, Metal up by 1.35%, Power up by 1.23% and Bankex was up by 1.21%, while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 2.53%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.40%, Tata Power up by 2.30%, GAIL India up by 2.21% and Cipla was up by 2.04%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 0.54%, Sun Pharma Industries down by 0.53% and HDFC was down by 0.14% were the few losers.

Meanwhile, in a bid to accelerate the implementation of highway projects, the government gave full authority to the road transport and highways (RTH) ministry to ease the rigid Model Concession Agreement (MCA) in order to fast-track the development of highway projects. RTH Ministry can now decide on the mode of delivery and amendments in regard to agreements with developers.

The CCEA, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, empowered the RTH Ministry so that the MCA can be amended as required from time to time and decide which mode is the best for effective delivery of road projects. MCA is the document that governs any road contract and management of project till the time a private player operates. Till now, even small changes in the MCA were referred to inter-ministerial group (IMG) for approval which adversely impacted timely road development in the country.

India needs widespread highway infrastructure to prevent the sector from becoming hurdle to its economic growth. Over the past five years, the highway road development in the country remained sluggish with physical achievement falling short of its intended target and getting further delayed with time. During FY14, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has managed to award around 1,436 km lengths of road projects as against the set target of 4,030 km, while in FY13 only 1,116 km of projects were awarded against a target of 9,500 km. Financial constraints, delay in land acquisition and environmental clearances, lack of project planning and compexities are the leading factors impacting road infrastructure development in the country.

The CNX Nifty opened at 7,990.35; around 36 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 7,954.35, and has touched a high and a low of 8,018.65 and 7,984.00 respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8013.70, up by 59.35 points or 0.75%. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NMDC up by 2.51%, Hindalco up by 2.50%, Tata Power up by 2.48%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.45% and GAIL India was up by 2.27%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 0.57%, Sun Pharma Industries down by 0.51%, Tata Motors down by 0.40%, IDFC down by 0.21% and Power Grid Corporation was down by 0.15% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the green; Hang Seng spurted by 43.09 points or 0.17% to 24,785.15, Jakarta Composite rose by 27.85 points or 0.54% to 5,164.72, Nikkei 225 surged by 35.84 points or 0.23% to 15,460.43, Taiwan Weighted gained by 65.97 points or 0.70% to 9,502.24 and Shanghai Composite was up by 12.35 points or 0.56% to 2,229.55.

On the flip side, KOSPI Index dropped by 1.19 points or 0.06% to 2,067.3, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined by 9.57 points or 0.51% to 1,866.11 and Straits Times was down 13.58 points or 0.41% to 3,313.51.