Markets soar to day’s high; Sensex surpasses 28,300 mark

Gradually adding ground, local barometer gauges have soared to day’s high point on sustained buying activities by funds and retail investors driven rally in rate-sensitive counters like banks, realty and auto. Additionally, sentiments got a boost after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday asked the chiefs of public sector banks (PSBs) to increase the flow of credit to various sectors of the economy without being unduly conservative and firmly deal with the issue of rising non-performing assets (NPAs). Meanwhile, appreciation in Indian rupee too boosted the sentiments. Rupee was trading at 61.8450/8500 as against previous close of 61.94/95. Thus, trading at day’s high, Sensex and Nifty were trading above their crucial 28,300 and 8,450 levels respectively, with gains of around a percent. Meanwhile, broader indices too were trading in line with benchmarks. On the global front, most of the Asian stock markets rose on Friday on data showing broad U.S. economic strength, while the yen rebounded from overnight multi-year lows after a Japanese official expressed concern about the pace of its recent descent.

Back home, international ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service today revised outlook of the country's non-financial corporates to stable from negative in view of momentum in economic recovery and political stability. On the sectoral front, banking, realty and consumer durables witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while software, technology and healthcare remained the few losers on the BSE sectoral space. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,460 shares on the gaining side against 1,118 shares on the losing side while 111 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28306.57, up by 239.01 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 28038.40 and 28320.99. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.81%, while Small cap index up by 0.62%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.78%, Realty up by 1.34%, Consumer Durables up by 1.18%, Capital Goods up by 1.14%, Oil & Gas up by 0.96% while, IT down by 0.99%, TECK down by 0.64% and Healthcare down by 0.31% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 3.12%, SBI up by 3.03%, ICICI Bank up by 2.84%, Cipla up by 2.51% and Hindalco up by 2.37%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.98%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.80%, Coal India down by 0.71%, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 0.51% and TCS down by 0.32% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the launch of Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) aimed at improving India’s sub-transmission and distribution network has finally got the Union Cabinet approval. The programme entails an investment of Rs 32,612 crore and requires a budgetary support of Rs 25,354 crore for the entire duration. The earlier scheme 'Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms' for 12th and 13th Plans will get subsumed in this new scheme.

The estimated cost of IPDS will include components of strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution networks, including metering of consumers in the urban areas. The scheme will help in reduction in AT&C losses, establishment of IT enabled energy accounting / auditing system, improvement in billed energy based on metered consumption and improvement in collection efficiency.

Along with IPDS the cabinet has also approved Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project, and a framework agreement for energy cooperation among SAARC members. The North Eastern Project is to strengthen the intra state transmission and distribution system for Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland at an estimated cost of Rs 5,111.33 crore, while the Deen Dayal project is for the rural areas, the scheme will replace the existing Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana. It is aimed at ensuring around eight hours of quality power supply to agricultural consumers and 24-hour electricity to households.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8473.95, up by 72.05 points or 0.86% after trading in a range of 8398.60 and 8482.00. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 6.33%, Axis Bank up by 3.12%, SBI up by 3.05%, ICICI Bank up by 2.93% and Cipla up by 2.52%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.08%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.17%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.95%, Jindal Steel & Power down by 0.92% and Lupin down by 0.91% were the top losers.

KOSPI Index rose 6.8 points or 0.35% to 1,964.84, Taiwan Weighted gained 12.66 points or 0.14% to 9,091.53, Shanghai Composite increased 12.93 points or 0.53% to 2,465.59, Straits Times surged 26.84 points or 0.81% to 3,342.44, Hang Seng strengthened 38.47 points or 0.16% to 23,388.11 and Nikkei 225 was up by 51.4 points or 0.3% to 17,352.26.

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 9.76 points or 0.54% to 1,812.53 and Jakarta Composite was down by 4.16 points or 0.08% to 5,089.41.