Benchmarks make gap-up opening; Sensex surpasses 26,400 mark

Indian equity benchmarks have made a gap-up opening and are trading jubilantly in early deals on Monday as investors getting boost with ruling party’s victory in two state assembly elections of Maharashtra and Haryana, which will give Narendra Modi government a tremendous morale boost to pursue economic reforms. Some strength also came in from IMF’s latest world economic outlook that, India is poised to become a  two trillion dollar economy this year, while its GDP size would cross another milestone of three trillion dollars after five years in 2019. Sentiments also remained up-beat on news that government raising the price of gas from domestic fields to $5.6 per unit, around 33% higher from $4.2 at present. The new price would come into effect from November 1 and would be revised every six months with a view to ensuring 'stability in the market'.

On the global front, the US markets bounced back in last session on encouraging consumer confidence data and hopes of stimulus by different central banks of the globe. The Asian markets which remained in correction mood in previous session were showing a jubilant performance with some of the indices surging by over two percent, led by the Japanese market which has surged as yen extended its loss.

Back home, on the sectoral front, public sector undertakings, oil and gas, and banking stocks witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while software and technology remained the only losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were trading jubilantly, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1470 shares on the gaining side against 413 shares on the losing side while 48 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 26434.16; around 326 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 26108.53, and has touched a high and a low of 26501.04 and 26399.84 respectively. The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26429.37, up by 320.84 points or 1.23%. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The overall market breadth remained in the favour of advances with 76.13% stocks advancing against 21.39% declines. The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.39%, while Small cap index up by 1.38%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 2.38%, Oil & Gas up by 1.95%, Bankex up by 1.88%, Infrastructure up by 1.70% and Capital Goods up by 1.58% while, IT down by 0.43% and TECK down by 0.05% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 5.12%, Axis Bank up by 2.92%, Tata Motors up by 2.82%, HDFC up by 2.55% and Cipla up by 2.37%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 0.83%, TCS down by 0.61%, Wipro down by 0.52%, Reliance Industries down by 0.35% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.31% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, after attracting Chinese investments to its industrial parks, India has now strongly pitched for China's participation in country’s Special Economic Zones (SEZ).  An Indian delegation comprising senior officials from Commerce Ministry and SEZ developers, is presently on China tour to attend business meetings and visit a number of successful Chinese Special Economic Zone (SEZ) ventures to get feedback.

It is reported that that delegation discussed the SEZ framework in the country and specific opportunities in select economic zones. India has asked Chinese companies to increase investment in country and take optimum advantage of ‘Make in India’ campaign, aimed at ensuring investor-friendly environment for businessmen in the country.

The six-member delegation is first from India after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited India in September during which $20 billion commitment was made by China to invest in industrial parks in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

During the period April 2000 to July 2014, China has invested only $411 million which is only 0.18 percent of India's total FDI received in the reported period. To enhance the Chinese investments in the country, the government has given an in-principle approval to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) allowing China to set up industrial parks in the country. The industrial parks are expected to include special economic zones (SEZs) and manufacturing zones.

The CNX Nifty opened at 7,896.95; around 117 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 7,779.70, and has touched a high and a low of 7,898.80 and 7,872.20 respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7881.00, up by 101.30 points or 1.30%. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 5.25%, BPCL up by 5.14%, Ultratech Cement up by 3.63%, Tata Motors up by 3.08% and PNB up by 3.07%. On the flip side, Jindal Steel & Power down by 8.57%, Infosys down by 0.92%, Wipro down by 0.72%, Reliance Industries down by 0.44% and Zee Entertainment down by 0.28% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in the green; Nikkei 225 spurted by 539.32 points or 3.71% to 15,071.83, Hang Seng improved 93.48 points or 0.41% to 23,116.69, KOSPI Index increased by 27.80 points or 1.46% to 1,928.46, Straits Times surged 18.90 points or 0.60% to 3,186.63, Jakarta Composite added 63.95 points or 1.27% to 5,092.90, Shanghai Composite gained 5.84 points or 0.25% to 2,347.03, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI jumped 13.92 points or 0.78% to 1,802.23 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 134.53 points or 1.58% to 8,647.41.