Benchmarks make gap up opening led by realty and metal

After making a gap up opening, Indian equity markets enlarged their last session gains on account of sustained buying by funds and retail investors. Sentiment improved after the government notified composite cap in the FDI policy, allowing up to 49 per cent foreign portfolio investment (FPI) through the automatic route in most sectors, including brownfield pharmaceuticals, single-brand retail, insurance, pension and facsimile editions of foreign newspapers. At present, Sensex and Nifty were trading above the crucial 27,900 and 8,450 levels respectively, with gains of over half a percent. Apart from blue chips, broader indices too were equally participating in the rally with both mid cap and small cap indices trading up by 0.60%. In scrip specific development, JBF Industries was trading higher ahead of the board meeting today to consider fund raising plan through preferential issue.

On the global front, the US markets ended mostly in green after data indicated that the economy grew more quickly in the second quarter. Asian markets were mostly trading mixed, with Chinese stocks once again declining.

Back home, all the sectoral indices, barring Power and Oil & Gas, are trading in the green with Realty and Metal sectors leading the gain. The market breadth on BSE was positive, in the ratio of 1233:552, while 75 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27926.80, up by 221.45 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 27814.51 and 27965.52. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.60%, while Small cap index up by 0.59%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.31%, Metal up by 1.17%, Auto up by 0.96%, Consumer Durables up by 0.82% and FMCG up by 0.63%, while Power down by 0.03% and Oil & Gas down by 0.01% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.64%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.10%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.97%, ICICI Bank up by 1.67% and Vedanta up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 0.25% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.21% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, Union Cabinet has approved the new Consumer Protection Bill which seeks to put back the 29 year old law and proposes setting up a regulatory authority to curb unfair trade practices. The new law gets importance due to rising concern over safety of consumer products and services in an era of growing e - commerce business in the country which has made consumers vulnerable to new forms of unfair and unethical trade practices.

The significant element of the new bill includes establishment of an executive agency 'Central Consumer Protection Authority' (CCPA) to protect the right of the consumer. The new bill will also have provision for product liability which will make manufacturers liable for sub-standard goods and services and it also provides enough powers to the regulatory authority to recall products and cancel licences if any consumer complaint affects more than one individual.

For quick clearance of court cases, the bill seeks to provide 'mediation' as an alternative path to resolve disputes where meditation   will be under the aegis of consumer courts. Further the bill also provides for stringent penalty which includes life imprisonment in certain cases. It also has provision for setting circuit bench in order to ease faster disposal of complaints and it has allowed provisions for consumers to file complaints electronically and also file in consumer courts that have jurisdiction over the place of residence of the complaint. The complaints will be deemed as admissible if the question of admissibility is not decided within 21 days. Further, the bill also has several provisions which are meant to simplify the consumer dispute resolution process in the consumer fora which include enhancing the pecuniary jurisdiction of the Consumer Grievance Redress Agencies, power to review their own records by the state and district commissions.

The Consumer Affairs Ministry will be introducing the bill in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament providing a comprehensive framework for protection of consumer interest and further it would also be replacing the Consumer Protection Act; 1986 which was amended thrice earlier in 1991, 1993 and 2002.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8481.25, up by 59.45 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 8448.00 and 8489.30. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.81%, Cairn India up by 2.69%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.54%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.22% and HCL Tech. up by 2.22%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 3.36%, PNB down by 2.28%, Bank of Baroda down by 1.19%, Power Grid Corpn. down by 0.60% and BPCL down by 0.50% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 11.4 points or 0.67% to 1,711.32, Nikkei 225 increased 18.7 points or 0.09% to 20,541.53, Jakarta Composite increased 50.98 points or 1.08% to 4,763.47 and Hang Seng increased 96.63 points or 0.39% to 24,594.61.

On the flip side, Straits Times decreased 43.26 points or 1.33% to 3,206.26, Shanghai Composite decreased 36.32 points or 0.98% to 3,669.45, Taiwan Weighted decreased 34.94 points or 0.4% to 8,616.55 and KOSPI Index decreased 8.69 points or 0.43% to 2,010.34.