Benchmarks continue to trade firm in late morning session

After getting a gap-up start, benchmark equity indices continued to trade in fine fettle in late morning deals on account of buying in front line blue chip counters taking cues from global counterparts. The sentiments were on optimistic note with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley making a fresh bid to end the deadlock on Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill as he reached out to main opposition Congress. Some support also came in from reports that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 48.67 crore on December 15, 2015. However, gains remained capped on report that India’s merchandise exports contracted for the 12th straight month in November, as a weak global recovery reduced demand for goods from Asia’s third largest economy. The country’s exports fell by 24.4% in November, dropping to $20 billion mainly on account of a sharp fall in shipments of petroleum products, engineering products, gems and jewellery and oil meals. Meanwhile, shares of sugar companies such as Shree Renuka Sugars, Dwarikesh Sugar and Mawana Sugar have gained after the Lok Sabha passed sugar cess bill which aims at raising cess on sugar from Rs 25 per quintal to Rs 200 per quintal. However, sharp selling was witnessed in some auto stocks, including Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), which declined by about 5 percent, on the report that Supreme Court (SC) ban registration of diesel vehicles above 2000 cc till March 31, 2016. Investors believe the impact on M&M will be significant as some of its models do not have a non-diesel variant.

On the global front, Asian markets stabilized in early trade on Wednesday, with sentiment lifting as US market jumped overnight before a likely hike in US interest rates. The Fed is widely expected to raise the federal funds rate by 25 basis points after the conclusion of a two-day monetary policy meeting today, 16 December 2015. Back on street, stocks from Oil & Gas, Realty and Power counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Consumer Durables, Auto and FMCG counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, shares of Arcotech have rallied after the company received an order worth Rs 268 crore from India Government Mint (IGM), Mumbai. On the other hand, shares of Wipro have declined after the company issued a warning saying that disruption of works at its Chennai facilities due to recent floods would impact third quarter (October-December 2015) performance.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2370 stocks traded, 1544 stocks advanced, while 664 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25482.15, up by 161.71 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 25372.47 and 25523.98. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.75%, while Small cap index up by 0.72%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 2.18%, Realty up by 1.77%, Power up by 1.47%, PSU up by 1.38% and Bankex up by 1.27%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.53%, Auto down by 0.29% and FMCG down by 0.25% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 4.34%, ONGC up by 2.64%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.37%, BHEL up by 2.17% and ICICI Bank up by 1.85%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 4.81%, ITC down by 0.79%, Wipro down by 0.42%, Coal India down by 0.24% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.16% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, for the second time in row, PSU oil marketing companies (OMCs) have slashed price of petrol and diesel by 50 paise per litre and 46 paise per litre respectively. The new rates announced by the oil marketing companies (OMCs) are effective from December 15, 2015. Following the change, petrol will cost Rs 59.98 per litre in Delhi as against Rs 60.48 per litre, while diesel will cost Rs 46.09 as compared to Rs 46.55 now. At the last revision on December 01, OMCs had slashed price of petrol and diesel by 58 paise per litre and 25 paise per litre respectively.

The net impact of the crude oil prices and Rupee depreciation have warranted a reduction of at least Rs 2 per litre but the reduction is much lower than an anticipated decrease as oil companies left cushion for the government to mop up gains accruing from global oil prices dipping to multi-year lows and also the government may like to raise excise duty on the two fuels to mop up its revenues as it has done five times in last one year.

PSU oil marketing companies Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp revise petrol and diesel prices on 1st and 16th of every month based on average imported cost and rupee-dollar exchange rates in the previous fortnight. The oil companies have said that the movement of prices in the international oil market and INR-USD exchange rate shall continue to be monitored closely and developing trends of the market will be reflected in future price changes.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7753.70, up by 52.80 points or 0.69% after trading in a range of 7715.75 and 7764.05. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cairn India up by 4.42%, GAIL India up by 4.06%, ONGC up by 2.66%, BHEL up by 2.26% and Bharti Airtel up by 2.15%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 4.62%, Asian Paints down by 1.32%, ITC down by 0.88%, Wipro down by 0.54% and Ambuja Cement down by 0.34% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 0.67%, Shanghai Composite up by 0.72%, Jakarta Composite up by 1.03%, KOSPI Index up by 1.99%, Taiwan Weighted up by 1.58%, Nikkei 225 up by 2.45% and Hang Seng was up by 2.21%.