Markets recover from day’s low; Nifty shy of crucial 8,850 mark

Local equity markets after recovering from day’s low scaled in late morning deals were trading firmly in green with gains of around three tenths of a percent, which lifted Sensex above psychologically crucial 29,300 levels. However Nifty was still trading shy of the crucial 8,850 mark. Buying by investors ahead of the Budget amidst mostly positive Asian markets after Euro-zone ministers agreed to extend Greece's bailout by four months influenced trading sentiments. Meanwhile, broader indices witnessing strong buying interest were also trading with gains of around 0.40-0.65%.

Markets surrendered most of their gains in late morning deals amidst the beginning of Budget session which started with President's address to both the houses of Parliament. However, buying interest, which emerged at lower levels, lifted markets from their low point.

On the global front, Asian shares were mostly positive on Monday, with sentiments supported by the relief that Greece reached a deal to avert an immediate fiscal crisis. Euro zone ministers late on Friday agreed to extend Greece’s financial rescue package by four months, a shorter extension than the six months the country had sought. Relief over the last minute deal boosted Wall Street to record highs and was likely to jump start the European markets.

Closer home, most of the sectoral indices on BSE were trading in positive territory, however stocks from Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas and Healthcare counters were the weak links of the trade. On the flip side, much of the buying activity was witnessed by stocks from Capital Goods, Information Technology and Power counters, which were the prominent gainers of the session. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of advances which thumped declines in the ratio of 1328:1237; while 126 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29312.46, up by 81.05 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 29250.26 and 29362.96. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.44%, while Small cap index gained 0.68%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.24%, IT up by 0.68%, Power up by 0.59%, TECK up by 0.55%, Metal up by 0.41% while, Consumer Durables down by 0.90%, Oil & Gas down by 0.45%, FMCG down by 0.10% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sesa Sterlite up by 2.30%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.87%, TCS up by 1.50%, Hindalco up by 1.18% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.15%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 1.20%, Reliance Industries down by 0.68%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.64%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.58% and HDFC down by 0.55% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, after yielding close to a lakh crore from the sale of coal blocks, the government is now looking to garner similar amount of money from the sale of radio-waves with eight telecom operators depositing about Rs 20,435 crore as earnest money for spectrum, thereby reflecting fierce bidding which is likely to take place for the spectrum auction starting March 4. Otherwise, for the entire amount of spectrum put on auction, an earnest money deposit (EMD) of Rs 12,000 crore would have served the purpose. Based on the reserve price, the government estimated to garner over Rs 82,000 crore from the sale of radio-waves for providing 2G as well as 3G services. While, the auction of 2G spectrum in 800 MHz, 900 Mhz and 1800 MHz bands at the reserve price is expected to fetch the government Rs 64,840 crore, it is looking at raising Rs 17,555 crore at the minimum on auction start price for the 2,100 Mega-Hertz band or 3G spectrum. However, with record EMD, the final earnings could be more than Rs 1 lakh crore. RJio has submitted the highest EMD of about Rs 4,500 crore, followed by Bharti Airtel Rs 4,336 crore, Idea Cellular Rs 4,000 crore, Vodafone Rs 3,700 crore, Tata Teleservices Rs 1,500.25 crore, Reliance Communications Rs 1,175 crore, Uninor Rs 724.95 crore and Aircel Rs 500 crore.

Notably, the government received EMD of Rs 8759.75 crore from eight companies for the auction conducted in February 2014 , while In 2010, nine telecom companies jointly submitted EMD of Rs 3,515 crore for 3G auctions and 11 companies Rs 2,291.25 crore for broadband wireless access spectrum that can be used for 4G services.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8848.50, up by 14.90 points or 0.17% 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 2.35%, Power Grid Corpn up by 2.02%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.00%, TCS up by 1.60% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.10%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 3.17%, Zee Entertainment down by 2.49%, DLF down by 1.98%, Jindal Steel & Power down by 1.52% and Cairn India down by 1.44% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; with FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI trading higher by 2.54 points or 0.14% to 1,810.41; Straits Times trading higher by 3.26 points or 0.09% to 3,438.92;  KOSPI Index trading higher by 6.94 points or 0.35% to 1,968.39 and Nikkei 225 trading higher by 134.62 points or 0.73% to 18,466.92.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was trading lower by 5.73 points or 0.11% to 5,394.38 and Hang Seng down by 5.17 points or 0.02% to 24,826.91.