Benchmarks continue firm trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets added gains and continued its firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments were on optimistic note after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) surprised markets with a 25 basis point cut in interest rates and signaled it could do more amid signs of slowing inflation and what it said was a government commitment to contain the fiscal deficit. Traders were seen piling positions in Realty, Bankex and Capital Goods stocks. In scrip specific development, SpiceJet was trading in green on reports that potential investors have begun discussions with markets regulator over their investment plan for the cash-strapped airline.

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 8,450 and 28,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1624:1055 while 115 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28034.04, up by 687.22 points or 2.51% after trading in a range of 27703.70 and 28055.06. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.47%, while Small cap index up by 1.15%. The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 7.72%, Bankex up by 3.36%, Capital Goods up by 2.67%, Auto up by 2.34%, Infra up by 2.32%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 5.23%, ICICI Bank up by 4.76%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.46%, SBI up by 4.18% and Tata Power up by 3.87%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.19% and GAIL India down by 0.13% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Power has approved an investment proposal of Rs 996 crore for capital projects of Central Power Research Institute (CPRI) in order to serve the growing needs of research and development in the Indian power sector including development of advanced testing facilities. 

The move will help to establish new laboratory in Western Region at Nasik. Besides it will also support establishment of new test facilities in existing laboratories of CPRI, located at Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkota, Guwahati, Noida and Nagpur.

CPRI is an autonomous society under the aegis of the Ministry of Power and was set up to serve as a National level laboratory for undertaking applied research in electrical power engineering. Furthermore, the society also functions as an independent test and certification authority for electrical equipments and components for ensuring reliability in the power system.

India is still a power deficit country, facing a peak power deficit of around 3-4%. In India, electricity is produced through coal, crude oil, water and natural gas. Coal-fired plants account for around 59% of India's total installed electricity capacity. Acute coal shortage in the country has become primary reason for power deficit in the country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8483.60, up by 206.05 points or 2.49% after trading in a range of 8380.55 and 8487.10. There were 46 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were DLF up by 10.91%, IDFC up by 6.93%, HDFC up by 5.47%, ICICI Bank up by 5.00% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.36%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.47%, Asian Paints down by 0.67% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.41% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 0.48 points or 0.03% to 1,914.14, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 3.47 points or 0.2% to 1,745.48, Straits Times increased 11.51 points or 0.35% to 3,337.67, Jakarta Composite increased 28.12 points or 0.54% to 5,187.79, Shanghai Composite increased 114.02 points or 3.54% to 3,336.46, Hang Seng increased 238.31 points or 0.99% to 24,350.91 and Nikkei 225 increased 312.74 points or 1.86% to 17,108.70.

On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted decreased 15.14 points or 0.16% to 9,165.09.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 45.69 points or 1.08% to 4,268.93, Germany’s DAX increased 114.89 points or 1.17% to 9,931.97 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 64.69 points or 1.01% to 6,453.15.