Benchmarks extend gains; Sensex reclaims 27,900 mark

Indian equity benchmarks extended their northward journey in final hour of trade with frontline gauges recapturing their crucial 27,900 (Sensex) and 8,400 (Nifty) levels. Sentiments remained up-beat as above normal monsoon rains, stoking hopes that central bank will cut rates in October than in 2016 as anticipated earlier after delivering three cuts of 25 basis points each in 2015 so far. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched smart cities, housing for all and urban rejuvenation schemes for Asia's third largest economy. Some support also came after the labour minister said the state social security fund would start investing in equity markets next month, as part of a reform drive aimed at boosting the economy.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in the red, with lingering concerns of a Greek debt default following a lack of progress in negotiations with its creditors prompting investors to cut their exposure to riskier assets like equities. Asian markets were trading mostly lower, with investors on ice ahead of a meeting of the European Union leaders later in the session as Greece continued last-minute efforts to avert a default.

Back home, on the sectoral front, capital goods, auto and banking witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while software, fast moving consumer goods and technology remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were trading higher, while the market breadth on the BSE was evenly divided; there were 1232 shares on the gaining side against 1,277 shares on the losing side while 129 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27902.38, up by 172.71 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 27635.76 and 27915.92. There were 19 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.25%, while Small cap index up by 0.18%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.12%, Auto up by 0.83%, Bankex up by 0.80%, Power up by 0.55% and Oil & Gas up by 0.49%, while IT down by 0.43%, FMCG down by 0.40%, TECK down by 0.22%, PSU down by 0.05% and Consumer Durables down by 0.01% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 4.42%, Vedanta up by 3.41%, HDFC up by 1.98%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.94% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.86%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 1.27%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.18%, Cipla down by 1.17%, ONGC down by 1.12% and NTPC down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the revised cost estimate of Rs 81,549 crore for the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC), after including the cost of land acquisition and financing plan. The revised cost estimate comprises of construction cost of Rs 73,392 crore of both Eastern and Western corridors. Of this, the land acquisition cost will be Rs 8,067 crore.

The government notified that the Eastern and Western DFC project, approved in 2008, will augment commercial transport and aid power, mining, ports and container sectors. The Eastern DFC is expected to carry 153 million tonne of traffic in 2021-22, which will increase to 251 million tonne in 2036-37. The Western DFC is expected to carry 161 million tonne of traffic in 2021-22, which will increase to 284 million tonne in 2036-37.

The Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) and World Bank will loan Rs 52,347 crore for the ambitious project. For the Eastern DFC, the commitment of World Bank loan is for $2.725 billion. For the Western DFC, the commitment for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) loan is for 550 billion Japanese yen and the first tranche loan agreements of 230 billion yen for both Phase-I and Phase-II, have been signed.

The Eastern DFC is planned to be implemented in parts; EDFC-1 of 343 km, from Khurja-Kanpur; EDFC-2 of 402 km, from Kanpur-Mughalsarai; EDFC-3 of 447 km from Ludhiana-Khurja-Dadri, while the Western DFC is planned to be implemented in two phases. Phase-1 of 963 km, from Rewari-Vadodara and Phase-2 of 557 km, from Vadodara-Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and Rewari-Dadri.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8,404.40, up by 43.55 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 8329.50 and 8407.25. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 4.49%, Cairn India up by 3.46%, Vedanta up by 3.18%, HDFC up by 1.94% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.90%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.29%, Wipro down by 1.57%, Bank of Baroda down by 1.23%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.21% and ONGC down by 1.20% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the red; Hang Seng decreased 259.22 points or 0.95% to 27,145.75, Shanghai Composite tumbled 162.37 points or 3.46% to 4,527.78, Nikkei 225 shedded 96.63 points or 0.46% to 20,771.40, Jakarta Composite dropped 25.27 points or 0.51% to 4,928.24, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dipped 11.16 points or 0.64% to 1,720.52 and KOSPI Index was down by 0.47 points or 0.02% to 2,085.06. On the flip side, Straits Times increased 2.2 points or 0.07% to 3,353.53 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 79.03 points or 0.84% to 9,476.34.

European markets were trading mostly in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 6.04 points or 0.09% to 6,838.76 and France’s CAC was down by 1.7 points or 0.03% to 5,043.65. However, Germany’s DAX was up by 27.13 points or 0.24% to 11,498.39.