Benchmarks continue firm trade; Metal, Oil & Gas lead

Indian equity markets continued its firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters taking cues from regional counterparts. The sentiments were on optimistic note after finance ministry stated in a report tabled in Parliament that India’s economy is expected to grow at around 5.5% in the fiscal year to March 2015. The mid-term review is based on the trend study of receipts and expenditure in relation to the budget at the end of the second quarter of FY2015. Traders were seen piling positions in Metal, Oil & Gas and IT stocks while selling was witnessed in FMCG and Realty sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Panacea Biotec was trading in green after the company entered into collaboration with US-based Rising Pharmaceuticals Inc.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in green while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,200 and 27,400 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1634:1070 while 116 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27415.32, up by 288.75 points or 1.06% after trading in a range of 27292.14 and 27497.12. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.96%, while Small cap index up by 1.18%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.06%, Oil & Gas up by 1.75%, IT up by 1.68%, Capital Goods up by 1.52%, Power up by 1.48% while, FMCG down by 0.52%, Realty down by 0.36% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 2.89%, Reliance Industries up by 2.52%, Sesa Sterlite up by 2.50%, ICICI Bank up by 2.49% and Hindalco up by 2.34%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.77%, Cipla down by 1.01%, ITC down by 0.88%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.54% and Sun Pharma down by 0.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, domestic air traffic grew by 14.35 percent to 58.74 lakh in November as against 51.37 lakh, derived by the festive season rush. During November, IndiGo remained the market leader with 33.5 percent market share while Jet Airways remained at second spot with 18.4 percent share. SpiceJet's share was reduced to 14.9 percent on account of large scale cancellations of its flights during the period.

During the April- November 2014 period, air traffic registered a 9 percent growth with all seven Indian airlines combined having flown 609.43 lakh passengers in the period compared to 558 lakh passengers flown in November 2013.

Domestic air traffic is expected to enhance in coming months as aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for domestic carriers has become over 10% cheaper since October and is likely to see more price cuts in the next three months. ATF accounts for over 50% of domestic carriers' operating costs and thus domestic carriers are likely to cut fare prices due to falling global oil prices. 

The civil aviation industry in India has ushered in the new era of expansion, driven by factors such as low-cost carriers (LCC), modern airports, foreign direct investments (FDI) in domestic airlines, cutting edge information technology (IT) interventions and a growing emphasis on regional connectivity. Indian civil aviation industry is amongst the top 10 in the world with a size of around $16 billion. India has a vision of becoming the third largest aviation market by 2020.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8242.45, up by 83.15 points or 1.02% after trading in a range of 8208.60 and 8263.45. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 2.86%, Hindalco up by 2.68%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.68%, Tata Power up by 2.46% and Reliance Industries up by 2.37%. On the flip side, DLF down by 3.53%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.92%, Cipla down by 1.02%, Jindal Steel & Power down by 1.01% and ITC down by 0.87% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 19.48 points or 1.15% to 1,719.43, KOSPI Index increased 32.48 points or 1.71% to 1,929.98, Jakarta Composite increased 36.57 points or 0.72% to 5,149.91, Straits Times increased 40.94 points or 1.26% to 3,284.59, Shanghai Composite increased 51.08 points or 1.67% to 3,108.60, Taiwan Weighted increased 120.89 points or 1.36% to 8,999.52, Hang Seng increased 284.42 points or 1.25% to 23,116.63 and Nikkei 225 increased 411.35 points or 2.39% to 17,621.40.

On the other hand, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 38.41 points or 0.59% to 6,504.41, France’s CAC increased 30.1 points or 0.71% to 4,279.59 and Germany’s DAX increased 49.93 points or 0.51% to 9,860.99.