Benchmarks hit fresh record highs in early deals; Nifty tops 8,500 level

Extending their previous session jubilation, Indian equity benchmarks are trading in fine fettle in early deals on Monday with a gain of around half a percent buoyed by firm global cues. The US markets made a good closing in last session with major averages adding around half a percent of gains for the day. The gains were contributed mostly by the comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi indicating that the bank may broaden its asset purchases in an effort to boost inflation and as China’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rates. The Asian markets were trading mostly in the green at this point of time with majority of the indices trading higher by 1-2 percent in early deals, as China’s unexpected interest-rate cut stoked optimism in the global economy.

Back home, sentiments remained up-beat as investors remained hopeful of possible rate cuts. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that Budget 2015-16 would unveil 'a whole set of second-generation reforms' as well as reforms that require undoing. Moreover, investors will also eye on start of winter session of Parliament as there will be lot of action from policy front with government planning to push an ambitious economic agenda. The much-delayed Insurance Bill and Goods and Service Tax Bill are high on agenda of the government.

On the sectoral front, metal, software and technology witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while fast moving consumer goods, oil and gas and healthcare remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were reeling with traction, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1203 shares on the gaining side against 801 shares on the losing side while 81 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 28413.01; around 79 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 28334.63, and has touched a high and a low of 28514.98 and 28405.95 respectively. The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28457.58, up by 122.95 points or 0.43%. There were 17 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The overall market breadth remained in the favour of advances with 57.70% stocks advancing against 38.42% declines. The broader indices were trading in the green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.41%, while Small cap index up by 0.41%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.16%, IT up by 1.28%, TECK up by 0.93%, Realty up by 0.92% and Bankex up by 0.70% while, FMCG down by 0.46%, Oil & Gas down by 0.11% and Healthcare down by 0.05% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 3.34%, Tata Steel up by 2.70%, Sesa Sterlite up by 2.62%, Infosys up by 2.17% and ICICI Bank up by 1.96%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.08%, Cipla down by 0.61%, Reliance Industries down by 0.48%, ITC down by 0.44% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has approved rural electrification scheme Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, which would replace the existing Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) and would entail an investment of Rs 43,033 crore. The balance work relating of the ongoing scheme of RGGVY till 2022 will get subsumed in this scheme as a distinct component for rural electrification and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), for this purpose, has already approved the scheme cost of Rs 39,275 crore including budgetary support of Rs 35,447 crore. This outlay will be carried forward to the new scheme of DDUGJY in addition to the outlay of Rs 43,033 crore.

The scheme is aimed at strengthening and augmentation of sub transmission and distribution infrastructure in rural areas, including metering of distribution transformers and feeders.  It would have components to separate agriculture and non-agriculture feeders facilitating judicious rostering of supply to agricultural and non-agricultural consumers in rural areas.

The estimated cost of the scheme for two components of Rs 43,033 crore, includes the requirement of budgetary support of Rs 33,453 crore from the government over the entire implementation period.

Further, the scheme is likely to work towards improvement in hours of power supply in rural areas, reduction in peak load and improvement in billed energy based on metered consumption and providing access to electricity to rural households.

The CNX Nifty opened at 8,490.95; around 13 point higher as compared to its previous closing of 8,477.35, and has touched a high and a low of 8,529.00 and 8,490.95 respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8509.60, up by 32.25 points or 0.38%. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Jindal Steel & Power up by 4.09%, Hindalco up by 3.28%, Tata Steel up by 2.68%, Sesa Sterlite up by 2.48% and ICICI Bank up by 2.18%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 2.70%, Asian Paints down by 1.13%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.84%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.59% and Cipla down by 0.57% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the green; KOSPI Index rose 10.39 points or 0.53% to 1,975.23, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI surged 18.95 points or 1.05% to 1,828.08, Jakarta Composite strengthened 33.44 points or 0.65% to 5,145.48, Taiwan Weighted gained 33.66 points or 0.37% to 9,125.19, Shanghai Composite soared 48.72 points or 1.96% to 2,535.51, Nikkei 225 increased 56.65 points or 0.33% to 17,357.51 and Hang Seng was up by 438.85 points or 1.87% to 23,875.97. On the flip side, Straits Times was down by 0.95 points or 0.03% to 3,344.37.