Benchmarks continue firm trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued its firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters and taking cues from positive global set-up.  The sentiments also got support after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stated that the ongoing global slow growth presented an opportunity for the country. Additionally, a World Bank (WB) Group analysis that most developing countries will benefit from oil price slump, added some optimism on the street. Traders were seen piling positions in Realty, FMCG and Bankex stocks. In scrip specific development, Coal India was trading in green a day after unions called off their strike late after marathon talks with Coal, Power and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal. Jet Airways was trading in green on reports that it has hired professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) to help it turn around within a year. 

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 8,200 and 27,200 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1969:763 while 84 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27253.99, up by 345.17 points or 1.28% after trading in a range of 27101.94 and 27262.33. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.76%, while Small cap index up by 1.86%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.47%, FMCG up by 2.00%, Bankex up by 1.67%, PSU up by 1.61%, Power up by 1.60%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 3.49%, ITC up by 2.45%, GAIL India up by 2.36%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.33% and Tata Power up by 2.23%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 0.84%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.60% and Infosys down by 0.15% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Indian Railways' revenue Earnings grew by 12.57% to Rs 1,14,656 crore during April-December 2014 as against Rs 1, 01, 856 crore during the same period last year.

Segment wise, earnings from goods registered an increase of 11.35% to Rs 77,161.55 crore from Rs 68,776.35 crore. On the other hand, earnings from the passenger segment stood at Rs 31,955.07 crore as compared to Rs 27,646.13 crore, registering an increase of 15.59% during the April-December 2014. The total approximate numbers of passengers booked declined by 1.64% to 6,256.16 million compared to 6,360.15 million in the reported period. 

Indian Railways is an important sector for India and has the potential to raise India's economic growth by over one percent. Therefore, it has become imperative to modernize, strengthen and expand the Indian railway network. 

Ever since its origin, Indian Railways had always been shut off from receiving any kind of FDI, considering security risks involved. However, in August this year, the government had eased FDI norms permitting 100 percent investment in rail projects, such as high-speed trains, suburban service, dedicated freight corridors, freight and passenger terminals. FDI is also being permitted for rail route electrification, signalling system and logistics parks.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8217.50, up by 115.40 points or 1.42% after trading in a range of 8167.30 and 8221.10. There were 45 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were DLF up by 6.17%, Asian Paints up by 4.95%, Cairn India up by 4.56%, BPCL up by 4.54% and Tata Motors up by 3.50%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 0.64%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.44%, Infosys down by 0.18% and Zee Entertainment down by 0.08% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite increased 9.93 points or 0.19% to 5,217.04, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 19.54 points or 1.14% to 1,728.72, KOSPI Index increased 20.82 points or 1.11% to 1,904.65, Straits Times increased 44.77 points or 1.36% to 3,343.13, Hang Seng increased 154.27 points or 0.65% to 23,835.53, Taiwan Weighted increased 157.94 points or 1.74% to 9,238.03 and Nikkei 225 increased 281.77 points or 1.67% to 17,167.10.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite decreased 80.5 points or 2.39% to 3,293.46.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 68.54 points or 1.67% to 4,181.27, Germany’s DAX increased 129.39 points or 1.36% to 9,647.57 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 84.44 points or 1.32% to 6,504.27.