Markets continue to hold firmly in green; Nifty comfortably trades past 8650 mark

Local equity markets continued to trade firmly in green with gains of over 0.50% which kept Sensex and Nifty above psychologically crucial 28,600 and 8,650 levels respectively on sustained buying activities by funds and retail investors thanks to positive global cues. Sentiments were also buttressed after International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s chief Christine Lagarde underscored Indian economy of being poised to overtake the combined GDP of Japan and Germany in the next four years on the back of recent policy reforms and improved business confidence in the country. Besides larger counterparts, broader indices too participated into the rally and were trading up with gains of over 0.50%.

On the global front, Asian shares rose on Tuesday, following Wall Street's lead, as investors positioned for the possibility that weaker-than-expected U.S. data will prompt the Federal Reserve to leave its options open this week on the timing of a future rate hike. Crude oil remained under pressure from a global supply glut, after U.S. crude CLc1 lost as much as 4 percent in the previous session to hit a six-year low. It was last down about 0.3 percent at $43.75 a barrel.

Closer home, with buying being broad based in nature, most of the sectoral indices on BSE were trading into positive territory; however stocks from Consumer Durables, FMCG and Metal counters were outperforming rest of the peers. On the flip side, drubbing was witnessed by stocks belonging from Information Technology shares, which were trading weak on account of strength of local unit. In stock-specific action, shares of three public sector oil marketing companies rose on falling international crude oil prices. Brent crude oil prices reversed most of their early gains to steady below $54 per barrel on Tuesday as high ongoing oversupply dragged on the market. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of advances which thumped declines in the ratio of 1399:1111; while 117 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28618.99, up by 181.28 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 28545.43 and 28783.39. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.61%, while Small cap index up by 0.53%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.26%, FMCG up by 1.12%, Metal up by 1.11%, Capital Goods up by 1.01% and Auto up by 0.92% while, IT down by 0.25% and TECK down by 0.16% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 4.41%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 3.09%, Tata Steel up by 2.31%, Tata Motors up by 2.21% and Cipla up by 2.06%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.22%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.99%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.61%, Tata Power down by 0.31% and GAIL India down by 0.30% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government received commitments of Rs 103,046 crore from telecom operators at the end of 67th round of bidding on Saturday, the 11th day of radio frequency spectrum e-auctions. This is little higher compared to Rs 102,215 crore on the 10th day. The auction will continue on Tuesday as about 13% of spectrum is yet to be sold.

Robust bidding was witnessed in 1800 MHz, 900 MHz and 800 MHz band, with majority of service areas being sold at a premium over reserve price. Aggressive bidding with price increment in 3 circles in 800 Mhz was witnessed, whereas one circle in 900 MHz and 2 circles in 1800 MHz saw price increment. However, no bidding activity for 2100 MHz used for offering 3G services. On a whole, 12-14 circles witnessed bidding activity on Day 11 of the spectrum auction.

Bidding was seen in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala in 1800 MHz, and 900 MHz in West Bengal, while 800 MHz band continued to witness good bidding with activity in six circles of Delhi, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and North East.

The biggest ever auction of spectrum in the 800, 900, 1,800, and 2,100 MHz bands had started on March 4. The government had initially estimated to earn between Rs 80,000 crore and Rs 1 lakh crore from the sale of radio waves. In the current round of auction, the government is selling a total of 380.75 MHz of spectrum in the 800 -MHz, 900 MHz and 1,800 MHz bands, and five MHz in the 2,100-MHz band across 17 of the 22 telecom areas of the circles in the country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8685.05, up by 51.90 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 8665.15 and 8738.45. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 4.53%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 3.06%, Cairn India up by 2.66%, Tata Steel up by 2.44% and Cipla up by 2.34%. On the flip side, Jindal Steel & Power down by 4.62%, Infosys down by 1.34%, Bank Of Baroda down by 0.82%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.70% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.64% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly into positive territory; with Jakarta Composite trading higher by 4.62 points or 0.08% to 5,439.89; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI trading higher by 5.59 points or 0.31% to 1,786.13; Taiwan Weighted trading higher by 26.53 points or 0.28% to 9,539.44; Shanghai Composite trading higher by 38.09 points or 1.1% to 3,487.39;  KOSPI Index trading higher by 42.58 points or 2.14% to 2,029.91; Nikkei 225 trading higher by 190.94 points or 0.99% to 19,437.00. On the flip side,Hang Seng down by 67.86 points or 0.28% to 23,881.69 and Straits Times down by 5.52 points or 0.16% to 3,370.52.