Markets make a jubilant start, with benchmarks gaining over half a percent in early deals

Buoyed by firm global cues, Indian equity benchmarks are trading higher in early deals, which lifted both Sensex and Nifty above crucial 27,700 and 8,400 levels respectively, with gains of over half a percent. Broader indices too are trading in line with larger counterparts with gains in the range of 0.70-0.80%. The sentiment got a boost after the Union Cabinet gave a nod to amendments to the GST Constitutional Amendment Bill. Traders were also getting encouragement with a statement of World Bank official that India has the potential to become a multi-trillion dollar economy with a per capita income of about $40,000 by 2050 if it manages to grow at seven percent annually for the next 30-35 years. The early weakness in rupee too was unable to deter the sentiment of the markets which lost 5 paise to 63.96 against the US dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange.

In scrip specific development, Navin Fluorine International soared by 9% in early deals, after the company's net profit more than doubled at Rs 18.15 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 (Q1). The commodity chemicals maker had reported a profit of Rs 8.50 crore in the year-ago quarter.

On the global front, the US markets ended higher following the Federal Reserve up gradation of its outlook on the US economy. Asian markets were trading mostly in green after Fed left interest rates unchanged.

Back home, all the sectoral indices were trading in the green. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1331: 417 while 52 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27738.44, up by 175.01 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 27649.97 and 27743.72. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.71%, while Small cap index gained 0.79%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.10%, Capital Goods up by 0.98%, Auto up by 0.84%, Power up by 0.69% and INFRA up by 0.66%, while there were no losers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 3.73%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.11%, HDFC up by 1.92%, Tata Motors up by 1.24% and Axis Bank up by 1.15%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 0.89%, Sun Pharma down by 0.60%, ITC down by 0.58%, TCS down by 0.22% and Infosys down by 0.17% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Department of Disinvestment (DOD) has told Finance Ministry that it would be able to raise only about Rs 30,000 crore out of the total target of Rs 69,500 crore for the current fiscal 2015-16, giving the reason of market volatility it added that higher target was becoming 'counter-productive' in framing of a strategy for sale of shares. DOD further said that Rs 30,000 crore is a realistic target in this market condition and if achieved then it still would be the highest ever disinvestment target achieved in a year for the government. For disinvestment in the current fiscal 2015-16, the government has lined up 20 PSUs for which it already has cabinet approval. This includes, 10% stake sale each in OIL, IOC, Nalco, NMDC, besides, 5% in NTPC, ONGC, and BHEL. Even as these 20 PSUs would fetch high returns, they would not be able to match the proceeds DOD had garnered via 10% share sale of Coal India last fiscal, raising Rs 22,600 crore.

Of the targeted Rs 69,500 crore, Rs 41,000 crore was to come from minority stake sale in PSUs and Rs 28,500 crore from strategic stake sales. In the previous fiscal (2014-15), the government raised around Rs 25,000 crore against the target of Rs 58,425 crore. The Rs 58,425-crore target included Rs 43,425 crore from minority stake sale and Rs 15,000 crore from residual stake sale in erstwhile PSUs.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8422.75, up by 47.70 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 8408.90 and 8425.50. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 3.45%, HDFC up by 1.90%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.76%, Idea Cellular up by 1.53% and HCL Tech. up by 1.49%. On the flip side, NMDC down by 1.15%, Tata Power down by 0.73%, Ambuja Cement down by 0.66%, ITC down by 0.64% and Sun Pharma Inds. down by 0.60% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 4.32 points or 0.25% to 1,703.31, Jakarta Composite increased 29.15 points or 0.62% to 4,750.27, Hang Seng increased 42.94 points or 0.17% to 24,662.39, Taiwan Weighted increased 97.24 points or 1.14% to 8,660.72 and Nikkei 225 increased 234.33 points or 1.15% to 20,537.24

On the flip side, Straits Times decreased 13.83 points or 0.42% to 3,270.17, KOSPI Index decreased 10.58 points or 0.52% to 2,027.04 and Shanghai Composite decreased 1.67 points or 0.04% to 3,787.49.