Benchmarks trade firm; Power, Realty lead

Indian equity markets continued their firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments were on optimistic note amidst hopes that momentum would sustain in 2015 should the government announce additional economic reforms and the RBI start cutting interest rates. Traders were seen piling positions in Power, Realty and Infra stocks while selling was witnessed in Auto sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Bajaj Corp was trading in green after shareholders allowed the company to raise FII investment limit. Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers were trading in green after Zuari increased its open offer size for its acquisition.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,250 and 27,400 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1570:1124 while 111 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27447.14, up by 43.60 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 27346.00 and 27502.41. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.88%, while Small cap index up by 0.95%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.12%, Realty up by 1.09%, INFRA up by 1.04%, Consumer Durables up by 0.88%, Capital Goods up by 0.72% while, Auto down by 0.19% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 2.59%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 2.15%, Hindalco up by 1.18%, NTPC up by 1.09% and Axis Bank up by 1.02%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.10%, HDFC down by 0.77%, HDFC Bank down by 0.61%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.56% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.34% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to boost the infrastructure development in the country, Environment Ministry has provided a major relaxation for faster execution of all linear projects including roads, rail, power transmission lines, water supply lines and laying of optic fibre cables. Such infrastructure projects are likely to implement soon after getting in-principle approval from local authorities as the ministry intimated the District Forest Officers (DFO) to cut down the time to project approval work by three to six months.

The ministry relaxation also included as working permission for tree cutting and commencement of work. National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has applauded the move, underscoring that getting permission for tree cutting, which is the first step to start work used to take a long. This decision and delegation of power to Divisional Forest Officer will help to fast-track project execution.

Environment and forest clearance were remained the main reasons for delay for the implementation of infrastructure projects mainly highway projects. During the past few months, a number of initiatives have already been taken to streamline green clearances, particularly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi set up an inter-ministerial committee on infrastructure under the Minister of Transport Nitin Gadkari.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8266.90, up by 18.65 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 8243.75 and 8280.05. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BHEL up by 2.79%, Cairn India up by 2.47%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 2.10%, Indusind Bank up by 1.67% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.64%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.13%, HDFC Bank down by 0.67%, HDFC down by 0.60%, BPCL down by 0.53% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.50% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted increased 38.83 points or 0.42% to 9,307.26, Shanghai Composite increased 68.86 points or 2.18% to 3,234.68 and Hang Seng increased 103.94 points or 0.44% to 23,605.04.

On the other hand, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 7.64 points or 0.43% to 1,759.19 and Straits Times decreased 0.96 points or 0.03% to 3,365.15. Markets in Indonesia, Japan and South Korea are closed today.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 14.58 points or 0.34% to 4,260.12 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 17.81 points or 0.27% to 6,564.81 while, Germany Stock Exchange was closed on account of ‘New Year’s Eve’.