Jubilation continues on Dalal Street; Infra and Power takes the lead

Buoyed by firm global cues, Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade jubilantly in noon deals with frontline gauges retaining their crucial 8,050 (Nifty) and 26,600 (Sensex) levels. Sentiments remained up-beat as investors were hopeful for a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at its policy meeting on September 29. Some support also came with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that India, with 8-9 percent growth rate, can replace China as the driver of world economy. Some encouragement came with the government’s announcement of the ambitious Smart City project, which is hoped to attract investment to boost the economy.

Firm opening in European counters too supported the sentiments. CAC, DAX and FTSE all were trading in green in early deals. All the Asian markets were trading in green at this point of time after upbeat US economic data calmed sentiment, with Chinese stocks jumping for the second day following a rocky start to the week. Back home, there was broad based buying witnessed in the markets and apart from the blue chips, the broader markets too equally participated in the rally. None of the sectoral indices were trading in the red, while infrastructure and power witnessed the maximum gain in trade, realty, software, technology, metal, oil and gas and capital goods too were trading significantly higher. The market breadth on BSE was strongly positive; there were 1682 shares on the gaining side against 770 shares on the losing side while 96 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26618.52, up by 387.33 points or 1.48% after trading in a range of 26479.10 and 26687.33. 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 1.38%, while Small cap index gained 1.35%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Infrastructure up by 2.62%, Power up by 2.26%, Realty up by 2.12%, TECK up by 2.08%, IT up by 1.99%, while there were no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 6.86%, ONGC up by 5.79%, NTPC up by 4.49%, Bajaj Auto up by 4.23% and Hindalco up by 4.22%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 0.26% and Lupin down by 0.05% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, NITI Aayog following the footsteps of its erstwhile predecessor, the Planning Commission will be bringing out a new integrated energy policy, which was originally introduced by Planning Commission, calling for decontrolling of energy prices. NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya said that India’s demand for energy could increase more than four-fold in the next three-and-a-half decades if no efforts are made on the conservation front.

In 2013-14, the Planning Commission after a major exercise, created India Energy Security Scenarios (IESS) 2047, with an eye on assessing and predicting India's energy needs, domestic supplies and imports, which was launched in February last year. Now the NITI Aayog has brought out IESS 2047 2.0, which allows for three GDP growth scenarios of 7.4 per cent, 6.7 per cent and 5.8 per cent in 2012-47 and offers a range of energy consumption projections. The Aayog working on an integrated energy policy will soon bring out a road map for developing energy security and a right pricing mechanism to promote competition and quality standards.

NITI Aayog’s interactive data tool on the country’s energy security aims to help policy makers and stakeholders make informed choices for better energy planning for the future. Panagariya said that this tool will be of particular use in the framing of the national energy policy being carried out by NITI Aayog. The Indian Energy Security Scenarios 2047 (Version 2.0) calculator, housed within the NITI Aayog, will suggest measures to shift the energy pattern in a way to ensure advancement of the country’s energy security considerations.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8068.75, up by 119.80 points or 1.51% after trading in a range of 8023.70 and 8091.80. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 7.08%, Cairn India up by 6.07%, ONGC up by 5.80%, Zee Entertainment up by 5.05% and NTPC up by 4.53%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.73%, Sun Pharma down by 0.23% and Lupin down by 0.10% were the only losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 11.88 points or 0.74% to 1,613.58, KOSPI Index surged 29.67 points or 1.56% to 1,937.67, Jakarta Composite gained 36.81 points or 0.83% to 4,467.45, Straits Times jumped 40.03 points or 1.36% to 2,985.46, Shanghai Composite soared 132.63 points or 4.3% to 3,216.22, Hang Seng strengthened 144.85 points or 0.66% to 21,983.39, Taiwan Weighted added 194.63 points or 2.49% to 8,019.18 and Nikkei 225 was up by 561.88 points or 3.03% to 19,136.32.

European Markets were trading in green; Germany’s DAX gained 0.12%, France’s CAC surged 0.15% and UK’s FTSE was up by 0.43%.