Markets manage to trade in green despite volatility

Indian markets despite choppiness were holding in green in the early noon trade, though some of the early gains were pared with profit taking in consumer durables and the oil & gas sector stocks. It being the crucial week of budget and F&O expiry volatility is expected with traders taking cautious bet ahead of the big events. Marketmen were also eyeing to the start of the Budget session with President Pranab Mukherjee’s address to members of both Houses after Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached out to the Opposition, saying Government will listen to their views and efforts will be made to discuss all issues of national importance. Back on street, a mixed trend at other Asian markets after Eurozone ministers agreed to extend Greece's bailout by four months too was impacting the sentiments at the local markets. On the sectoral front, consumer durables, oil & gas and healthcare were the biggest drag, on the other hand the IT and tech stocks were trading higher despite the strength in rupee, while the capital goods sector stocks were in most jubilant mood.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29309.26, up by 77.85 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 29250.26 and 29362.96. There were 19 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.41%, while Small cap index was higher by 0.59%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.29%, IT up by 0.61%, Power up by 0.55%, Metal up by 0.47%, TECK up by 0.46%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.92%, Oil & Gas down by 0.50%, FMCG down by 0.04%, INFRA down by 0.02% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sesa Sterlite up by 2.41%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.81%, TCS up by 1.35%, Hindalco up by 1.21% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.84%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 1.31%, Reliance Industries down by 0.72%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.65%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.59% and HDFC down by 0.49% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the first round of coal block e-auction, which ended after an aggressive bidding on 21 st February, saw some key names of the industry bagging 18 mines with a combined extractable reserve of 90 million tonnes, along with attached end-use infrastructure. According to the auction amount and royalty payable, it was a windfall of close to Rs 1 lakh crore for six mineral-rich states over the next 30 years. On the other hand the Non-mineral-rich states will benefit from tariff concessions, or reduction in power rates arising out of stiff bidding for coal. By the coal ministry's rough estimates, for every decline of Rs 100 a tonne in a bid, the power rate gets reduced by 6 paise a unit.

Of the 18 operational blocks that went under the hammer, seven were kept aside for the power sector and the rest for unregulated sectors like iron, steel and cement. While there was reverse bidding for power sector end-use, it was forward bidding for the unregulated sectors. Some of the earlier owners of coal mines - Hindalco, Balco, Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL), GMR and CESC - bagged most of the blocks.

However, at least thirteen companies that had invested hugely in end-use plants could not regain possession of the blocks previously held by them. Initially, 23 operational mines were earmarked for first phase of e-auction but due to the intervention of Delhi High court in case of two blocks and lack of bidders’ interest in other two, only 18 blocks were eventually put up for auction. The next tranche of coal block to go under the hammer would be the 20 near-operational mines in Schedule III which originally consisted of 32 blocks.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8840.10, up by 6.50 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 8831.95 and 8869.00. There were 21 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sesa Sterlite up by 2.37%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.72%, Power Grid Corpn up by 1.50%, TCS up by 1.30% and Hindalco up by 1.18%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 2.87%, Zee Entertainment down by 2.45%, DLF down by 1.75%, Cairn India down by 1.32% and GAIL India down by 1.22% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up marginally by 0.92 points or 0.05% to 1,808.79, Straits Times gained 4.95 points or 0.14% to 3,440.61, KOSPI Index was higher by 6.94 points or 0.35% to 1,968.39, Hang Seng gained 6.97 points or 0.03% to 24,839.05, Taiwan Weighted added 33.2 points or 0.35% to 9,529.51 and Nikkei 225 surged by 134.62 points or 0.73% to 18,466.92, on the other hand Jakarta Composite decreased 9.06 points or 0.17% to 5,391.05.