Benchmarks continues firm trade; Sensex surpasses 27,000 mark

Indian equity markets continued their firm trade hovering near the highest point of the day in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments got some support after government approved one - time financial assistance for ‘physically incomplete and languishing’ national highway (NH) projects. Traders were seen piling position in Auto, Metal and PSU stocks, while selling was witnessed in IT sector stocks. In the scrip specific development, Bharti Airtel was trading in green after a special court discharged Hutch, Bharti in additional spectrum case. Adani Group companies like Adani Enterprises, Adani Power and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone were trading firm after the Australia government approved Adani’s Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Infrastructure project with 36 conditions. DCB Bank extended yesterdays fall on bank’s expansion plans which is likely to hurt its earnings.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in green, while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,150 and 27,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1522:1023 while 161 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27017.45, up by 237.79 points or 0.89% after trading in a range of 26836.77 and 27037.95. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.90%, while Small cap index up by 0.63%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 2.04%, Metal up by 1.68%, PSU up by 1.43%, Bankex up by 1.16% and Oil & Gas up by 1.10%, while IT down by 0.17% was the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 7.08%, Tata Steel up by 3.19%, BHEL up by 2.60%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.45% and Coal India up by 2.41%.

On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.43%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.94%, Cipla down by 0.93%, Wipro down by 0.88% and TCS down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a relief measure for the financially strained fertiliser industry, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved a Special Banking Arrangement (SBA) for Rs 7,000 crore loan from consortium public sector banks led by State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank in order to settle the outstanding urea subsidy bill during 2014-15.

In a bid to overcome the liquidity problems of the fertilizer companies, the SBA has already been implemented. Under SBA, a total of Rs 6,806.66 crore for settlement of subsidy bills with the two consortiums of public sector banks was raised by government. The above loan amount along with interest liability on the part of government thereon amounting to Rs 64.03 crore was paid to the banks. The loan together with government interest thereon has been repaid from budget estimate for 2015-16 within the sanctioned budget under the vote on account.

Government is making available fertilizers namely urea and 22 grades of P&K fertilisers, to farmers at subsidised prices through fertiliser manufacturers/importers. Government provides urea to farmers at a fixed maximum retail price (MRP) of Rs 5,360 per tonne where the difference between the cost of production and MRP is provided as subsidy to manufacturers. India produces about 22 million tonnes of urea and imports about 8-9 million tonnes to meet the domestic shortfall.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8185.55, up by 77.65 points or 0.96% after trading in a range of 8129.80 and 8190.55. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 8.33%, Tata Motors up by 7.24%, Tata Steel up by 3.08%, Bank of Baroda up by 3.05% and BHEL up by 3.00%.

On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.45%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.44%, Cipla down by 1.13%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.13% and Wipro down by 0.90% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 5.45 points or 0.32% to 1,716.59, KOSPI Index increased 23.72 points or 1.18% to 2,033.27, Jakarta Composite increased 40.17 points or 0.9% to 4,523.25, Shanghai Composite increased 75.63 points or 2.32% to 3,338.07, Taiwan Weighted increased 79.01 points or 0.93% to 8,601.52, Nikkei 225 increased 205.9 points or 1.15% to 18,096.90 and Hang Seng increased 448.26 points or 2% to 22,888.17.

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 50.9 points or 0.81% to 6,320.51, France’s CAC increased 36.56 points or 0.79% to 4,645.59 and Germany’s DAX increased 79.71 points or 0.8% to 9,995.56.