Indian equities extend gain; Metal, Realty and CG leads the race

Indian equities extended gains to trade firm hovering towards the day’s high in the late afternoon session. Key benchmarks gained momentum as risk-averse investors were back in the market with buying activity picking across the broad. Traders were seen piling up the positions in Metal, Realty and Capital Goods (CG) sector while selling was witnessed in IT sector. Tata Steel, Sterlite, Jindal Steel, SAIL and Hindalco from Metal packs were seen trading firm pulling the markets higher. DLF from Realty sector is trading in green with gain of around more than two and half percent giving the much needed support. L&T and BHEL from Capital Goods space were seen trading in green inching the markets higher. The shares of IT companies continued to remain under pressure after Infosys Technologies yesterday announced lower revenue guidance, other IT majors like Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Technologies were also trading in red. Airline stocks extended recent gains on anticipation that government may allow foreign air carriers to invest in domestic aviation firms. Shares of power generation and power equipment makers Torrent Power, Areva T&D India, Suzlon Energy, Alstom Projects and Reliance Power were trading firm in green after electricity sector reported a robust growth of 14.6% in November compared with 4.6% a year ago. Sugar companies were trading in green for second straight day extending yesterday’s rally on reports that the government may allow additional sugar exports of one million tonnes during the current marketing year.

On the global front, Asian markets traded in green barring Shanghai Composite and Taiwan Weighted while the European markets were trading in green on optimistic note. Both the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BOE) made no changes to their interest rate policies with the ECB holding steady at 1% and the BOE maintaining its 0.5% rate. ECB President Mario Draghi stated he sees some signs of stabilization in the struggling region. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 4,850 and 16,200 levels, respectively.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,226.66 up by 189.15 points or 1.18% after trading as high as 16,257.34 and as low as 16,049.78. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a positive note; the BSE Mid cap index surged 1.67% while Small cap soared 2.10%.

On the BSE sectoral space, Metal up 4.16%, Realty up 3.14%, Capital Goods up 2.94%, Power up 2.89%, and PSU up 2.21% were the major gainers while IT down 0.05% remained the only loser in the space.

Tata Steel up 7.91%, Coal India up 5.59%, DLF up 4.05%, L&T up 3.75% and Bharti Airtel up 3.50% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while GAIL India down 3.10%, Bajaj Auto down 2.59%, HDFC down 1.38%, Sun Pharma down 1.18% and Hero MotoCorp down 1.14% were the major losers in the index.

Meanwhile, intensifying the historically strong bilateral relations between the two nations, Indian and Japanese officials held talks on increasing co-operation in Indian infrastructure sector. India has been a major beneficiary of Japanese cooperation through Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

A high level delegation led by Japanese Minister for Land Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), Takeshi Maeda met  C P Joshi, Minister of Road Transport and Highways and discussed bilateral cooperation in infrastructure sector with special reference to road construction. A Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) which is being prepared by India’s Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is in the process of finalizing which will be signed by Japanese minister of MLIT.

The proposed MOC will enable India and Japan to exchange technical knowledge and expertise in the Road Transportation and Highways sector including capacity building and advanced technology for road transport management system and intelligent transport system. Japanese companies have been participating in National Highways Development Programme (NHDP) of India as Supervision Consultants. Four projects have already been completed where their performance has been satisfactory.

The Japanese minister of MLIT also held extensive talks with Dinesh Trivedi, Indian Minister of Railways on bilateral issues in the field of rail transportation and various aspects of high speed train corridors. Japan’s External Trade Organisation and Oriental Consultancy along with Parsons Brinkhoff India have secured the contract to conduct pre-feasibility study of the Hyderabad-Vijayawada-Chennai corridor, one of the six corridors identified by Indian Railways for high speed train operations.

Union Minister of Shipping GK Vasan also was called upon by Takeshi Maeda for discussion on bilateral issues concerning the port and shipping sectors and other issues of mutual interest like ship-breaking, ship-building, connectivity projects to ports and exchange programmes, etc. Specific issues relating to development projects with respect to connectivity to the ports, draft, new berths, terminals and other facilities especially relating to Chennai and Ennore ports were also discussed.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,871.60, higher by 40.35 points or 0.84% after trading as high as 4,898.85 and as low as 4,834.20. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Reliance Power up 8.48%, Tata Steel up 7.73%, Reliance Communications up 6.40%, Coal India up 5.57% and JP Associates up 3.83%.

GAIL down 2.92%, Bajaj Auto down 2.71%, HDFC down 1.93%, Sun Pharma down 1.76% and Hero MotoCorp down 1.41% were the major losers on the index.

Asian markets were trading largely on a positive note; Hang Seng advanced 0.57%, Jakarta Composite ascended 0.55%, Nikkei 225 surged 1.36%, Straits Times soared 1.65% and Seoul Composite climbed by 0.60%. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite plunged 1.34% and Taiwan Weighted eased 0.07%.

The European markets were trading in green with, France’s CAC 40 ascended 0.94%, Germany’s DAX advanced 0.74% and Britain’s FTSE 100 jumped 0.68%.