Markets trade in fine fettle supported by auto and oil & gas stocks

Indian markets despite showing a bit choppy trade in the early noon session were managing to hold their head high in green, but there are intermittent profit bookings too that was restricting markets from any major gains. There was some cautiousness in the market with global rating agency Fitch lowering India's economic growth projections to 7.8 percent for the current fiscal from 8 percent on pickup in demand and said that the country’s business environment is relatively weak compared with peers and will take time to turn around. Back on street, the Nifty was comfortably sailing above 8450 level, gradually moving higher with the progress of trade, while the broader markets were out performing the benchmarks. On the sectoral front oil & gas, auto and realty sector have taken the lead. There was some buzz in the irrigation related stocks after the cabinet approved a central scheme 'Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY)' that aims to provide irrigation facilities to every village by converging ongoing schemes being implemented by various ministries. Jain Irrigation was up by about 6%, Shakti Pumps was up by over 4% and Raj Irrigation Pipes was up by around 2%. The PSU banking stocks too have extended their jubilation with the Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha stating that more capital support will be given to public sector banks, which need an additional Rs 2.40 lakh crore in the next three years to meet Basel III capital adequacy norms. He also acknowledged regulatory issues in listing of stock exchanges, saying the matter is under consideration.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28086.28, up by 65.41 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 27961.08 and 28115.96. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.89%, while Small cap index surged by 1.03%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.20%, Auto up by 0.90%, FMCG up by 0.88%, Realty up by 0.79%, PSU up by 0.48% while, Metal down by 0.34%, Consumer Durables down by 0.14%, IT down by 0.02% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.13%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.05%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.76%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.48% and Reliance Industries up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 0.85%, HDFC Bank down by 0.82%, ONGC down by 0.61%, Infosys down by 0.52% and Tata Motors down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the World Bank has approved the $650 million debt funding for a part of the eastern arm of the ambitious Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project. This is the third tranche of the World Bank loan EDFC 3, which got approval for the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) of 1,840 km long from Ludhiana to Kolkata, and will help build the 401 Km Ludhiana-Khurja section spanning Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. The Project will help increase the capacity of these freight lines by raising the axle-load limit from 22.9 to 25 tons and enable speeds of up to 100 km per hour.

The World Bank is supporting the EDFC as a series of projects in which three sections with a total route length of 1,146 km will be implemented. The latest tranche of loan, which comes with a 22-year maturity period, is expected to help in faster and more efficient movement of raw materials and finished goods between the northern and eastern regions, as the eastern and western arms of the DFC project are expected to help India increase the railways' transportation capacity by building high-capacity and high-speed dedicated freight corridors along the Golden Quadrilateral.

The World Bank board had in 2011 approved the first tranche of the loan of $975 million for the 343 Km Khurja-Kanpur section (EDFC1) already under implementation, while in April 2014 it approved the second tranche of the loan of $1.1 billion for EDFC2 which covers 402 km from Kanpur to Mughal Sarai. Under EDFC2, civil works contract for around $800 million have been awarded and contracts worth $240 million for establishing rail systems are under procurement.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8471.65, up by 18.60 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 8437.20 and 8479.25. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.41%, Bosch up by 1.86%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.84%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.74% and Idea Cellular up by 1.45%. On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 1.04%, Coal India down by 1.00%, HDFC Bank down by 0.90%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.88% and ONGC down by 0.75% were the top losers.

Most of the Asian markets barring the Shanghai Composite which has plunged once again by 223.89 points or 5.52% to 3,829.81, were trading in green.

Straits Times was up by 2.3 points or 0.07% to 3,333.44, Taiwan Weighted gained 4.01 points or 0.04% to 9,379.24, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI inched up by 7.53 points or 0.44% to 1,735.49,  KOSPI Index increased by 9.44 points or 0.45% to 2,107.33, Hang Seng gained 20.18 points or 0.08% to 26,270.21, Jakarta Composite added 36.91 points or 0.75% to 4,940.98 and Nikkei 225 surged by 193.18 points or 0.95% to 20,522.50.