Benchmarks continue to hold their head above water

After positive opening, Indian equity benchmarks continued to hold their head above water on fresh buying by participants as the April series in derivatives segment began amid positive Asian cues. Sentiments got a boost with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) extending a loan of $ 300 million to India for improving road connectivity and increasing the domestic and regional trade along the North Bengal-North Eastern Region (NER). Some support also came in from reports that the Supreme Court allowed the government to finalise the spectrum auction bids and collect the initial payment amounting to Rs 28,000 crore out of Rs 1.09 lakh crore from the successful telecom companies before March 31. However, gains remained capped on report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 521.23 crore on March 26, 2015. Further, traders remained cautious as the global cues are not very supportive, while the Middle East crisis is still looming large.

On global front, most of the Asian stock markets rose as upbeat US economic data helped revive some risk appetite lost following air strikes on Houthi militants in Yemen. But fears the conflict could spread and disrupt West Asian shipments have put a floor under the price of oil, which slumped to a six-year low earlier this month. Back home, Indian rupee declined by 12 paise to 62.79 against the dollar in early trade due to appreciation of the US currency overseas.

Back on street, stocks from information technology (IT), Capital Goods and Metal counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from FMCG, Realty and Oil & Gas counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, Shares of Larsen and Toubro (L&T) have surged after the company has won orders worth of Rs 1,711 crore across various business segments in March 2015. Further, Power Grid Corporation of India rose on getting nod for four investment proposals worth Rs 2066.45 crore.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2241 stocks traded, 1083 stocks advanced, while 1066 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27520.15, up by 62.57 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 27458.68 and 27694.41. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.03%, while Small cap index up by 0.28%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.79%, TECK up by 1.24%, Capital Goods up by 1.17%, Metal up by 0.62% and Power up by 0.21% while, FMCG down by 0.97%, Realty down by 0.80%, Oil & Gas down by 0.35%, Infrastructure down by 0.08% and Auto down by 0.05% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.91%, Hindalco up by 2.43%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.89%, TCS up by 1.73% and Sesa Sterlite up by 1.56%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 2.30%, HDFC down by 1.68%, Sun Pharma down by 1.67%, ITC down by 1.30% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government after getting a go ahead from the Supreme Court declared the winners of the recently concluded airwaves auction. Now the government can collect initial upfront payment of Rs 28,872 crore from operators which will help to plug its fiscal deficit. Victorious bidders need to pay a quarter to a third of the winning price within 10 days, and the rest in 10 annual installments beginning 2017. Supreme Court had last month allowed the government to proceed with the auction, which began on March 4, but had said no final allocations could be made until after the court held hearings regarding legal complaints on the sale mechanisms.

As per the details of Telecom Ministery, Idea Cellular bid a maximum of Rs 30,306.98 crore to buy spectrum in the 900 megahertz, 1800 MHz and 2,100 MHz bands, followed by Airtel which bid Rs 29,130.20 crore in the same bands and Vodafone committed Rs 29,959.74 crore. Together, these three operators have committed about Rs 85,000 crore or 77% of the total auction proceeds.

Much hyped, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio bought radiowaves that carry mobile telephony calls and data in 800 MHz and 1800 MHz for Rs 10,077.53 crore, while Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communication in the same bands bid for spectrum for Rs 4,299.13 crore. The other winners of the auction were, Tata Teleservices with bids of Rs 7,851.33 crore for spectrum in 800 MHz and 1800 MHz and Aircel with bids of Rs 2,250 crore to buy spectrum in 1800 MHz band. Norway's Telenor was the only company out of the 8 that participated in the auction but did not win any radiowaves.

One of the major gainers of the airwaves auction Airtel now has spectrum to provide third-generation telecom services in most parts of the country. Apart from gaining back airwaves in six of its circles, where the current permits are set to expire soon, it has acquired additional spectrum in the 900 Mhz band in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, North East,  Assam, Bihar and Orissa.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8354.10, up by 11.95 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 8336.05 and 8413.20. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 2.78%, Hindalco up by 2.55%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.10%, Tata Motors up by 1.82% and TCS up by 1.79%. On the flip side, Bank of Baroda down by 2.55%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 2.31%, PNB down by 2.06%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.03% and Zee Entertainment down by 1.92% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the green; Hang Seng rose 0.02%, Shanghai Composite gained 0.32%, Straits Times increased 0.36%, Jakarta Composite jumped 0.34% and Nikkei 225 was up by 1.9%. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted decreased 1.03%, KOSPI Index shed 0.22% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.05%.