Benchmarks trade in fine fettle in early deals on Wednesday

Extending their previous session gains, Indian equity benchmarks have made a positive start and are trading in a fine fettle in early deals on Wednesday as investors opted to buy beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks. Some support also came in with law minister Sadananda Gowda’s statement that India plans to amend its arbitration law, setting time limits for courts and easing judicial rules to decide corporate disputes, as it seeks to attract more foreign investment.

Global cues too remained supportive with the US markets bouncing back and ended higher in last session on hopes that Greek debt negotiations could result in a deal that will provide stabilization in Europe, although a drop in oil prices limited the advance. The Asian markets were trading mostly in the green at this point of time despite concern about corporate earnings offset optimism that a compromise will be reached over Greece’s debt crisis, while the Japanese market remained closed.

Back home, on the sectoral front, capital goods, consumer durables and banking witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while auto remained the lone loser on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were trading in-line with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1255 shares on the gaining side against 569 shares on the losing side while 57 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28489.11, up by 133.49 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 28439.04 and 28532.46. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.68%, while Small cap index up by 0.93%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.50%, Consumer Durables up by 1.37%, Bankex up by 1.16%, Power up by 1.00% and Realty up by 0.47% while, Auto down by 0.16% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 1.95%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.94%, Axis Bank up by 1.68%, NTPC up by 1.46% and Coal India up by 1.34%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.82%, Sesa Sterlite down by 1.67%, Tata Motors down by 1.33%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.23% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.04% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, a Parliamentary panel has invited suggestions on the proposed amendment to the Electricity Act, which seeks to provide choice of power suppliers to consumers and propel growth in the sector, for examination. The Standing Committee on Energy (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) under the Chairpersonship of Kirit Somaiya, Member of Parliament, has referred the Electricity Amendment Bill, 2014 for examination and presenting a report to Parliament.

Considering the importance of the subject, the committee has invited suggestions, views and suggestions from stakeholders, individuals, experts, institutions/and organisations interested in the subject within 10 days of publication of communique of February 10.

The amendments have been suggested in order to promote competition, efficiency and improvement in the supply of electricity resulting in capacity addition and benefiting consumers.

While, the Cabinet, in December, approved various amendments to the existing Electricity Act 2003, Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal had earlier indicated that amendments to the Electricity Act, 2014 should come into effect by April.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8608.50, up by 42.95 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 8594.95 and 8620.35. There were 31 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.13%, ICICI Bank up by 1.87%, Grasim Industries up by 1.80%, Bank Of Baroda up by 1.73% and Power Grid up by 1.72%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.78%, Cairn India down by 1.71%, Sesa Sterlite down by 1.50%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.50% and Tata Motors down by 1.44% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the green; Shanghai Composite increased 6.46 points or 0.21% to 3,148.05, Straits Times rose 9.76 points or 0.28% to 3,444.00, KOSPI Index jumped 10 points or 0.52% to 1,945.86, Jakarta Composite gained 15.49 points or 0.29% to 5,336.96 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 77.68 points or 0.83% to 9,471.38.

On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 190.75 points or 0.78% to 24,337.35 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.06 points or 0% to 1,811.06.