Benchmarks continue to trade firm led by auto and power

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade firm in early noon session, on the back of value-buying in blue-chip counters. Besides, covering-up of pending short positions by speculators ahead of the futures and options expiry on Thursday, too supported the upside. Moreover, a stronger rupee against the dollar too was supporting the markets.  Sentiment got up - beat with the report that the India could become the world’s third largest economy after 2030 and its ascension could see France and Italy kicked out of the exclusive G8 group or its membership increased to 10 to accommodate India and Brazil. India’s projected GDP in 2030 was $ 10,133 billion, behind America’s $ 32,996 billion and China at the top with a projected GDP of $ 34,338 billion. However, India will become the largest economy in the Commonwealth in 2019 when its economy overtakes the British economy.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading marginally in green, amid a lack of immediate directional cues in light year-end trade, although Japanese shares managed to rise following a rebound in crude oil prices from multi-year lows. Back home, both the Sensex and Nifty were trading above their crucial 25,950 and 7,850 levels respectively.

In scrip specific development, share of Tube Investments surged over 11% after the company announced a 14 percent stake sale in Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company to the Japanese partner, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company for Rs 883 crore. Srikalahasthi Pipes was trading higher over by 8% after the company received orders worth Rs 1,053 crore during December 2015 for supply of ductile iron pipes.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25954.76, up by 116.05 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 25856.86 and 25991.08. 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 0.38%, while Small cap index gained 0.58%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.93%, Power up by 0.80%, PSU up by 0.62%, FMCG up by 0.61% and Oil & Gas up by 0.52%, while Metal down by 0.28% ws the losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.55%, Tata Motors up by 2.13%, ICICI Bank up by 2.02%, ONGC up by 1.11% and Lupin up by 1.08%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.97%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.80%, HDFC Bank down by 0.52%, HDFC down by 0.40% and Asian Paints down by 0.29% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the road transport and highways ministry in the financial year 2016-17 has lined up highways projects worth Rs 50,000 crore to be awarded under public-private partnership (PPP) mode. It will be the largest chunk of highways projects to be awarded by the ministry under the PPP mode in a single financial year. Projects will be awarded mostly under the hybrid annuity model. Some of them will also be given out on the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model. In the current fiscal year, the government expects to garner more than Rs 20,000 crore by way of private investments in the roads sector. It has already awarded projects worth Rs 12,000 crore.

Besides, during the next fiscal, the ministry plans to award projects close to 5,000 km to private companies. As part of this plan, the ministry will invite bids for its religious tourism circuit programme including Char Dham connectivity and the Bharat Mala project, which envisages development of roads along the international borders and coastal areas. Further, in the next four years the government is also targeting to increase the length of highways across the country to 1.5 lakh km from the existing 1 lakh km. During next fiscal year it plans to undertake construction of 7,000-8000 km on its own.

The ministry is now promoting the hybrid annuity model, a new mode of delivery under PPP, for awarding road projects under which 40% of project cost is provided by the government to the concessionaire. The remaining 60% is to be arranged in form of debt and equity to be compensated over 15 years as bi-annual annuities.

In order to boost the private sector interest in the sector, the ministry has taken a slew of measures including introducing an exit policy aimed at improving the availability of equity funds by allowing developers to monetise existing projects. The exit policy framework permits concessionaires to divest 100% equity and exit all operational BOT projects two years after completion of construction.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7895.70, up by 34.65 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 7863.00 and 7904.95. There were 37 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Power up by 2.41%, NTPC up by 2.33%, Tata Motors up by 2.20%, ICICI Bank up by 1.92% and Lupin up by 1.17%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.92%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.82%, Idea Cellular down by 1.42%, HDFC Bank down by 0.50% and HDFC down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 10.16 points or 0.61% to 1,673.67, Jakarta Composite increased 27.12 points or 0.6% to 4,549.78, Nikkei 225 increased 92.8 points or 0.49% to 18,861.86, while  Hang Seng slumped by 210.46 points or 0.95% to 21,927.67,Shanghai Composite decreased 47.35 points or 1.31% to 3,580.57, KOSPI Index decreased 21.22 points or 1.07% to 1,969.43 and Taiwan Weighted decreased 4.79 points or 0.06% to 8,358.49.