Benchmarks trade in fine fettle in early deals

Extending their previous session’s rally, Indian equity benchmarks have made a gap up opening and are trading in fine fettle in early deals on Thursday on the back of firm global cues. The US markets made a positive close in last session despite some early volatility with the tech-heavy Nasdaq reaching its best closing level since 2000, reacting positively to earnings news from some big-name companies. The Asian markets were trading mostly in the green at this point of time and some of the indices were trading higher by around a percent in early deals. The Chinese market too was trading in green although the HSBC flash manufacturing PMI of the country slipped to one year low at 49.2.

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. Traders are getting some support with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the government will move the Constitution Amendment Bill in Parliament within a couple of days. Meanwhile, the industry body CII has said that the Land Bill introduced in Parliament will create millions of jobs, meet the aspirations of farmers, and help spur growth in the economy.

Meanwhile, none of the sectoral indices were trading in the red, while metal and realty witnessed the maximum gain in trade. FMCG, power, PSU, auto, banking and consumer durables too were trading significantly. The broader indices too were trading with traction, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,490 shares on the gaining side against 475 shares on the losing side while 61 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28048.23, up by 158.10 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 27942.89 and 28087.78. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.21%, while Small cap index up by 0.92%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.21%, Realty up by 1.25%, FMCG up by 0.98%, Power up by 0.97% and PSU up by 0.94%, while there were no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 4.51%, Tata Power up by 1.97%, Sesa Sterlite up by 1.78%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.64% and Coal India up by 1.61%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 0.52%, Infosys down by 0.46%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.23%, Sun Pharma down by 0.05% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to formulate a policy for promoting bulk drug manufacturing in the country, the government has been evaluating recommendations of a committee formed to study issues related to critical active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The government, while taking various measures for promoting 'Make in India' initiative in pharmaceutical sector had constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Secretary, Department of Health Research in this direction.

The committee, among many other things recommended establishment of Mega Parks for APIs with common facilities such as common effluent treatment plants, testing facilities, captive power plants/assured power supply by state systems, common utilities /services such as storage, testing laboratories, IPR management, designing, guest houses/accommodation etc maintained by a separate special purpose vehicles (SPV).

Basically, the policy is being contemplated to reduce dependence on imports. This could be done so by making changes to the existing regulations to promote medical devices production is being chalked out by the Centre. Notably, the measures, in various stages of formulation, are focused on providing impetus to the pharmaceutical industry and making medicines as well as medical devices affordable and accessible.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8493.05, up by 63.35 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 8451.05 and 8504.95. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 4.54% and Yes Bank up by 3.64% and Asian Paints up by 2.67% and HCL Tech. up by 2.41% and Tata Power up by 2.03%. On the flip side, Cairn India down by 2.10%, Wipro down by 0.66%, Infosys down by 0.40%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.11% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.06% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the green; Jakarta Composite increased 6.81 points or 0.13% to 5,443.93, Shanghai Composite rose 9.23 points or 0.21% to 4,407.72, Straits Times advanced 12.4 points or 0.35% to 3,508.64, KOSPI Index surged 25.53 points or 1.19% to 2,169.42, Nikkei 225 gained 78.83 points or 0.39% to 20,212.73, Hang Seng added 157.78 points or 0.56% to 28,091.63 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 178.4 points or 1.86% to 9,791.40. On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 3.66 points or 0.2% to 1,851.11.