Benchmarks trade firm in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets added 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 note after Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that his government is on the path of making India a global manufacturing hub and has worked hard to make the country a favourable place to set up business. PM added that he is hopeful to roll out GST bill in 2016 enlightening that his government wants to ensure that India’s tax regime is transparent and predictable and will not reinforce retrospective tax regime. Traders were seen piling position in Consumer Durables, FMCG and Oil & Gas stocks while selling was witnessed in IT, TECK and Bankex sector stocks. In the scrip specific development, Indian Overseas Bank was trading in red after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) took prompt corrective action (PCA) on the PSU lender in a bid to improve its internal processes and arrest mounting non-performing assets (NPAs).

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 8,100 and 26,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1465:1074 while 126 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26911.31, up by 125.76 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 26751.25 and 27010.27. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.33%, while Small cap index up by 0.78%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 4.48%, FMCG up by 2.01%, Oil & Gas up by 1.85%, Metal up by 1.51% and Realty up by 1.23%, while IT down by 1.13%, TECK down by 0.76% and

 Bankex down by 0.23% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 5.20%, ITC up by 3.31%, Cipla up by 3.12%, GAIL India up by 2.96% and Coal India up by 2.88%.

On the flip side, BHEL down by 2.48%, Infosys down by 2.26%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.32%, HDFC Bank down by 1.10% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.92% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari after chairing the first National Sagarmala Apex Committee (NSAC) meeting has said that the government is planning to spend Rs 70,000 crore in coming years on 12 major ports under sagarmala project which aims to develop port infrastructure along the country’s 7,500 km coastline.

Most of this investment is expected to be made by government. However some projects, including development of islands and tourism facilities, would be taken up in public-private partnership (PPP) mode. The government aims to develop 30 projects in the current fiscal at a cost of Rs 14,226 crore. The projects mainly include increasing the capacity of existing major ports and adding new ports. The government is eyeing Rs 4,500 profit from the two ports Kandla and Paradip this fiscal which are being developed into Green smart cities.

The project aims to achieve port-led development by focusing on port and islands modernisation and capacity augmentation, efficient and speedy evacuation. It would create huge employment besides boosting the country’s GDP. Ports will play huge role in meeting double digit GDP target and port, shipping and highways sector will very soon add 2 per cent to the country's GDP.

Further, the new sites which are identified to be converted into ports are Sagar Island (West Bengal), Vadhavan (Maharashtra), Colachel (Tamil Nadu) and Tadadi (Karnataka). Establishment of Indian Port Rail Corporation has also been done under Sagarmala project. The government could save around Rs 40,000 crore every year in logistics costs and time reduction for key cargo movement when Sagarmala is fully developed. Gadkari further said that the government also aims to promote tourism and fishery under Sagarmala.

Besides, the government will set up 14 coastal economic zones and a special economic zone at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Mumbai under the initiative which also includes connecting ports with inland waterways. At Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone, there are investment proposals for Rs 4,000 crore, which will provide employment to 1.5 lakh youth. Free trade warehousing zones will be set up in Cochin and Ennore. The government will also set up eight automobile industrial zones at ports to recycle vehicles that are more than 10 years old.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8144.10, up by 24.80 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 8096.50 and 8180.95. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 5.49%, Cipla up by 3.42%, Idea Cellular up by 3.28%, ITC up by 3.20% and GAIL India up by 3.01%.

On the flip side, BHEL down by 2.84%, Infosys down by 2.27%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.74%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.61% and Bank of Baroda down by 1.37% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 10.42 points or 0.63% to 1,658.01, KOSPI Index increased 12.4 points or 0.63% to 1,990.65, Taiwan Weighted increased 41.74 points or 0.5% to 8,394.10, Straits Times increased 43.13 points or 1.51% to 2,894.38, Jakarta Composite increased 76.66 points or 1.76% to 4,420.36 and Nikkei 225 increased 180.61 points or 1% to 18,186.10.

On the other hand, Hang Seng decreased 22.88 points or 0.1% to 21,831.62. China Stock exchange was closed on account of ‘National Day’ holiday.

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 18.97 points or 0.3% to 6,279.95, Germany’s DAX decreased 31.46 points or 0.32% to 9,783.33 and France’s CAC decreased 2.31 points or 0.05% to 4,614.59.