Markets recover from Thursday’s mayhem in early deals

After witnessing a sharp fall in previous session, Indian equity markets have made a positive opening and are now trading in fine fettle with gains of around half a percent, on the back of value buying at lower levels which lifted both the Sensex and Nifty above crucial 24,450 and 7,600 levels respectively, in early deals on Friday. Meanwhile, the session was proving jubilant for broader indices, which were trading with gains in the range of 0.80-1.05%. Sustained buying in other Asian markets also supported the sentiments. Besides, appreciation in Indian rupee too supported the markets. The rupee recovered from its three-week low by surging 30 paise to 66.63 against the US dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange today on account of fresh selling of the American currency by exporters and banks.

In the scrip specific development, Aptech surged 15% on the BSE, on the back of heavy volumes. The trading volumes on the counter jumped more than five-fold with a combined 4.48 million equity shares representing 11.23% of total equity of Aptech changed hands in first 45 minutes of trading on the NSE and BSE. Also, GM Breweries gained 13% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) after the company reported a strong 157% year-on-year (YoY) growth in net profit at Rs 15.57 crore for the third quarter ended December 2015.

On the global front, the US markets ended lower on Thursday as traders reeled from the rout in China. Asian stock markets are mostly higher on Friday, with some of the markets reversing initial losses after the Chinese stock market rose in volatile trade.

Back home, all the sectoral indices were trading in green led by Oil & Gas, Power, Realty, FMCG and Bankex. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1537: 315 while 84 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24983.03, up by 131.20 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 24962.55 and 25083.55. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.82%, while Small cap index up by 1.04%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.11%, Power up by 1.02%, Realty up by 0.93%, FMCG up by 0.66% and Bankex up by 0.63%, while there were no losers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 2.04%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.57%, Reliance Industries up by 1.34%, Tata Steel up by 1.10% and Axis Bank up by 1.07%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.19%, Coal India down by 0.90%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.52%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.47% and ICICI Bank down by 0.08% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu has said that the Modi government has agreed to accept the demands raised by the opposition congress Party, to pass key reform goods and services tax (GST) Bill, raising hopes that a political standoff that blocked the measure throughout last year might be resolved. Further he said that the government is ready to start the upcoming Parliament session earlier than scheduled to pass the bill in the Rajya Sabha if the Congress is willing to support it.

With a view to discuss and seek support for the passage of key reforms in the upcoming budget session of Parliament, Naidu met Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Gandhi, however, didn't assure him of her party's support and said that they will discuss among themselves and take a final decision.

In order to garner the Opposition's support for the passage of the GST Bill, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also met his predecessor Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi in early December. But his efforts were in vain as the winter session of Parliament got washed out following a controversy in the National Herald case in which Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi faced allegations of illegal acquisition of property worth Rs 5,000 crore.

The GST bill which aims to replace a string of central and local levies such as excise and octroi with a single tax is a key constituent of the government’s reform agenda that has run into rough weather in Parliament. The Congress party, the original author of the tax reform, has opposed what it calls the 'flawed' version now before Parliament, where it has been able to block a key constitutional enabling amendment in the upper house.  It wants the Government to cap the GST rate at less than 20 per cent, scrap a proposed state levy and create an independent mechanism to resolve disputes on revenue sharing between States.           

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7603.75, up by 35.45 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 7595.45 and 7634.10. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 2.25%, Tata Motors up by 1.86%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.55% , Cairn India up by 1.47% and BPCL up by 1.32%. On the flip side, ACC down by 1.38%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.23%, Ambuja Cement down by 1.04%, Zee Entertainment down by 0.94% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.66 points or 0.1% to 1,656.79, KOSPI Index increased 3.84 points or 0.2% to 1,908.17, Taiwan Weighted increased 34.27 points or 0.44% to 7,886.33, Shanghai Composite increased 74.56 points or 2.39% to 3,199.57, Nikkei 225 increased 91.63 points or 0.52% to 17,858.97 and Hang Seng increased 244.54 points or 1.2% to 20,577.88.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 9.76 points or 0.22% to 4,520.68.