Benchmarks trade jubilantly in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks have made a gap-up start and are trading jubilantly in early deals on Thursday on firm global cues. The US markets rallied in last session, reacting positively to the Fed’s monetary policy announcement, viewing its statement as dovish regarding the outlook for interest rates. Fed Chair Janet Yellen noted that removing the word patient from the statement doesn't mean the central bank is going to be impatient. The Asian markets too were trading in the green at this point of time after Fed officials indicated interest rates will rise at a slower pace than previously forecast. However, the Japanese market was in red, as the yen strengthened against dollar.

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. Some support also came in with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) bullish outlook for India, which in its interim economic assessment report has said that India is poised to grow 7.7 percent this year and 8 percent in 2016 to become the “fastest growing major economy.”

Meanwhile, none of the sectoral indices were trading in the red, while healthcare and capital goods witnessed the maximum gain in trade. Metal, banking, consumer durables, realty, oil and gas and infrastructure too were trading significantly higher. The broader indices too were trading in-line with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,429 shares on the gaining side against 552 shares on the losing side while 79 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28969.72, up by 347.60 points or 1.21% after trading in a range of 28795.81 and 28978.74. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.05%, while Small cap index up by 0.96%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.78%, Capital Goods up by 1.75%, Metal up by 1.24%, Bankex up by 1.19%, Consumer Durables up by 1.18%, while there were no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 3.42%, Axis Bank up by 2.65%, Sun Pharma up by 2.35%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.14% and Hindalco up by 1.95%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.01% and Infosys down by 0.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid speculation of cartelisation during their bidding process in the coal block auctions, the government is re-examining the bids for nine coal blocks, including those where Jindal Steel and Balco emerged the top bidders, and a final decision on their fate would be taken by this weekend.

Coal Secretary Anil Swarup, though has said that the government wasn’t looking at cartelisation aspect at the moment and it was only re-examining and not reviewing, “because there was no decision taken. Review happens when you take a decision.” He further stated that if some irregularities are found the government can re auction the mines, it can allot the mines to the state or it can give the blocks to Coal India.

The bids of four coal blocks of the schedule II mines (ready to produce) which are being re-examined are Gare Palma IV 2, Gare Palma IV 3, Gare Palma IV-1 and Marki Mangli III, while for schedule III mines are Brinda and Sasai mine (one bid was invited for both the mines), Meral mine, Dumri mine, Tara mine and Mandla South mine.

Earlier, there were reports that some bidders could have indulged in cartelisation to keep the prices low for the concerned mines. So far, a total of 33 coal blocks have been auctioned in two tranches, while in the first lot 19 coal mines were auctioned, in the second lot 14 coal blocks went for sale.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8785.90, up by 100.00 points or 1.15% after trading in a range of 8731.60 and 8788.20. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 3.47%, Asian Paints up by 2.96%, Sun Pharma up by 2.42%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.29% and Axis Bank up by 2.25%. On the flip side, HCL Tech. down by 0.97%, NTPC down by 0.95%, Zee Entertainment down by 0.27%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.26% and Bank of Baroda down by 0.11% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the green; KOSPI Index increased 6.93 points or 0.34% to 2,035.38, Shanghai Composite rose 9.69 points or 0.27% to 3,586.99, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI humped 10.21 points or 0.57% to 1,807.78, Straits Times gained 14.9 points or 0.44% to 3,376.65, Jakarta Composite advanced 31.74 points or 0.59% to 5,444.89, Taiwan Weighted surged 79.18 points or 0.82% to 9,732.61 and Hang Seng was up by 316.65 points or 1.31% to 24,436.73. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 109.56 points or 0.56% to 19,434.92.