Benchmarks trade jubilantly on ECB Stimulus

Extending their northward journey for seventh straight day, Indian equity benchmarks have made a gap-up opening and are trading jubilantly in early deals with key indices surpassing their crucial 29, 300 (Sensex) and 8,850 (Nifty) levels on Friday after the European Central Bank launched a landmark bond-buying stimulus programme that buoyed investors’ risk appetite. On domestic front, investors getting some support with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley assuring that the government will keep up the pace of reforms but said he doesn’t want to build expectations in the run up to the Budget. Sentiments also remained up-beat on reports that foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 593 crore on Thursday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

Global cues too remained supportive with the US markets rallying in last session following ECB President Mario Draghi’s announcement of an expanded asset purchase program. All the Asian markets were trading higher at this point of time after ECB President unveiled an expanded stimulus plan. Optimism about the additional stimulus providing a boost to the European economy seemed to overshadow any concerns about potential risks to the national central banks.

Back home, there was broad based buying witnessed in the markets and apart from the blue chips, the broader markets too equally participated in the rally. On the sectoral front, capital goods, auto and banking witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while consumer durables remained the lone loser on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were trading slightly in the green, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1090 shares on the gaining side against 936 shares on the losing side while 92 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29332.58, up by 326.56 points or 1.13% after trading in a range of 29189.33 and 29408.73. There were 26 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.30%, while Small cap index up by 0.06%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.82%, Auto up by 1.14%, Bankex up by 0.96%, INFRA up by 0.76%, Realty up by 0.55% while, Consumer Durables down by 0.47% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 4.05%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.70%, Tata Motors up by 2.24%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.88% and Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.81%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 0.89%, Infosys down by 0.21% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.12% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, exuding confidence about foreign and domestic investors contributing in a big way to the Indian growth story, Union Minister Piyush Goyal underscored the country's power sector is set for $250 billion investment across different segments. The minister highlighted that investments were expected across diverse areas of the energy sector, including in renewables, transmission and distribution segments.

Further, giving break-up of the investment, Goyal unveiled that while renewables were set to get $100 billion, the transmission and distribution segment would get $50 billion, each. He added that another $60-70 billion were expected to be invested in power generation, including for restarting stalled projects and for new ones, while $5-6 billion were earmarked for energy efficiency projects. Besides, $20-25 billion investments has also been set aside for associated infrastructure required in replacement of old and out-dated equipments, among others.

Meanwhile, raising money for funding these investments is the last thing that the government is worried about as it has gauged a sense of excitement among the investors about the ambitious target that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set, which is to ensure 24×7 power for all households as also for the industry and the farmers.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8853.25, up by 91.85 points or 1.05% after trading in a range of 8827.00 and 8866.40. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC up by 4.14%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.83%, Tata Motors up by 2.28%, DLF up by 2.15% and Bharti Airtel up by 2.00%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 0.90%, HCL Tech. down by 0.70%, ACC down by 0.68%, Ambuja Cement down by 0.54% and Lupin down by 0.51% were the top losers.

Asian markets rallied; KOSPI Index rose 12.28 points or 0.64% to 1,933.10, TSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI surged 18.93 points or 1.06% to 1,800.68, Straits Times jumped 39.46 points or 1.17% to 3,409.75, Shanghai Composite increased 46.58 points or 1.39% to 3,389.92, Jakarta Composite soared 65.95 points or 1.26% to 5,319.14, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 81.14 points or 0.87% to 9,450.65, Nikkei 225 added 161.16 points or 0.93% to 17,490.18 and Hang Seng was up by 308.64 points or 1.26% to 24,831.27.