Benchmarks continue firm trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets extended gains and continued their firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments were on up-beat mood after Minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha stated that India’s economy is presently poised for a very big growth phase. Sinha added that the BJP led government was able to restore confidence in the macroeconomic management of the Indian economy. Traders were seen piling position in Power, TECK and IT sector stocks.In scrip specific development, Delta Corp, which runs casinos in Goa among other things, was trading firm following the first quarter earnings. Delta Corp reported a net profit of Rs 10 lakh in the April-June quarter of FY16 against a loss of Rs 19.6 crore in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal. Total revenues jumped 46 percent to Rs 81.5 crore compared to Rs 55.7 crore in the year-ago period. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries was trading in green after foreign brokerage firm raised target price of the company citing potential of Ranbaxy’s Mohali plant.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green, while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,600 and 28,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1450:1216 while 133 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28520.72, up by 74.60 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 28417.46 and 28576.32. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.44%, while Small cap index up by 0.62%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.19%, TECK up by 1.10%, IT up by 0.95%, Consumer Durables up by 0.76% and FMCG up by 0.72%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 2.09%, BHEL up by 1.84%, Tata Motors up by 1.83%, Tata Steel up by 1.63% and ITC up by 1.35%.

On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.10%, Coal India down by 1.42%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.06%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.91% and Wipro down by 0.58% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave approval for redevelopment of 400 railways stations (A1 and A category) in metros and major cities besides pilgrim centres and tourist spots. Under the model ‘as is where is’, the parties coming through open bids will develop the station with their designs and business ideas, while zonal railways would permit the commercial development of real estate which include land and air space around the stations. This scheme will encourage innovative ideas from interested parties at no cost to the railways.

Finance Minister Jaitley detailing the scheme said that it is new process of giving contracts where any person with credentials can submit a development proposal to the government. That proposal will be put online and a second person can give suggestions to improve and beat that proposal.  The best proposal will be selected by an expert committee; the original proposer will be given a chance to match it, only in case it is an improvement on his proposal. If he is unable to match the competing proposal, the project will be awarded to the competing proposer.

Commenting on development Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said that, the existing process   for redevelopment are time consuming as they involve various steps which include, inception and pre-feasibility report’, appointment of architect, technical consultants, financial and legal consultants, in-principle approval of local authorities, request for qualification, short listing of bidders, and request for technical proposals, hence they added little success.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8629.65, up by 21.60 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 8593.15 and 8642.95. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 2.30%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.17%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.97%, BHEL up by 1.93% and Tata Steel up by 1.92%.

On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 2.21%, HDFC down by 2.00%, Coal India down by 1.44%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.19% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.15% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted increased 3.77 points or 0.04% to 9,045.98, Nikkei 225 increased 50.8 points or 0.25% to 20,650.92, Shanghai Composite increased 134.18 points or 3.51% to 3,957.35 and Hang Seng increased 252.49 points or 1% to 25,415.27. On the other hand, KOSPI Index decreased 11.1 points or 0.53% to 2,076.79.

Indonesia Stock Exchange was closed on account of ‘Idul Fitri Festival’ holiday, Malaysia stock exchange was closed on account of ‘Hari Raya Aidilfitri’ holiday and Singapore was shut for the day on account of ‘Hari Raya Puasa’ holiday.

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 19.32 points or 0.28% to 6,777.13, Germany’s DAX decreased 18.58 points or 0.16% to 11,698.18 and France’s CAC decreased 8.63 points or 0.17% to 5,112.87.