Benchmarks continue to trade in green in late morning session

Indian bourses continued to trade in green in late morning session on account of buying in front line blue chip stocks. Sentiments got some support with Planning Commission's former deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia stating that Indian economy, which expanded at 7.7 per cent between 2003 and 2014 has the potential to clock 8 per cent growth in the near future. He also said that for India to grow at 7.7-8 per cent, implementation of reforms like Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Bankruptcy law are necessary. Besides, firm global cues coupled with the appreciation in rupee value against the dollar added to the optimistic sentiments. Snapping its three-day losing streak, the rupee appreciated 15 paise to 68.08 against the US dollar in early trade. However, investor remained cautious with the RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan raising doubts over the new GDP growth rate methodology, stating that there is a need for better computation of numbers so as to avoid overlaps and capture the net gains to the economy. He said that there are problems with the way we count GDP which is why we need to be careful sometimes just talking about growth.

On the global front, Asian markets crept cautiously higher on Friday as oil cobbled together another session of gains and markets wagered U.S. interest rates would not be rising much this year, if at all. Overnight, US markets rallied after oil prices rebounded on talk that major oil producers in the Middle East would cut back production.

Back home, stocks from Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas and Metal counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Banking, Realty and Auto counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, shares of Titan Company has rallied after the company reported 18.12% rise in its net profit at Rs 225.29 crore for the third quarter as compared to Rs 190.73 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. On the other hand, shares of ICICI Bank have dipped after the bank reported 4.38% fall in its consolidated net profit at Rs 3122.35 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015 as compared to Rs 3265.32 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2124 stocks traded, 1087 stocks advanced, while 913 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24554.08, up by 84.51 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 24340.06 and 24637.63. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in mix; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.05%, while Small cap index down by 0.04%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 2.27%, Oil & Gas up by 1.28%, Metal up by 1.16%, FMCG up by 1.09% and Power up by 0.74%, while Bankex down by 1.42%, Realty down by 0.56% and Auto down by 0.39% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 3.99%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 2.93%, GAIL India up by 2.84%, ONGC up by 1.68% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.65%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 4.27%, SBI down by 3.53%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.51%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.18% and Tata Motors down by 2.10% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Industry chamber Assocham has said that the government is likely to drastically scale down the targets for realization of resources from PSU stake sale for 2016-17, from the one set for the current fiscal as markets expected to stay in subdued mood even in the next fiscal. Assocham has said that with the odds stacked against the equity market in 2016 and the world economic prospects looking even grimmer, there is less hope of a recovery in the financial markets.

The industry body further stated that the disinvestment targets have gone completely haywire under successive governments and added that either they have been doing a mere academic budget-making exercise or getting them completely wrong.

In the current fiscal, the government had budgeted to collect Rs 69,500 crore through PSU disinvestment, but volatility in the market have forced it to delay stake sale plans. So far the government has been able to mop up just Rs 12,700 crore through stake sale in four PSU. Assocham expects the government to raise another Rs 2,000-3,000 crore in the remaining months of this fiscal from PSU stake sale with a shortfall of at least Rs 55,000 crore with regard to disinvestment target of 2015-16.

The government has missed its disinvestment target for four consecutive financial years. Assocham pointed that in 2013-14, the government has raised Rs 15,819 crore against the target of Rs 40,000 crore. In 2014-15 it raised Rs 24,277 crore against the target of Rs 36,925 crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7447.65, up by 23.00 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 7402.80 and 7479.45. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 5.87%, Coal India up by 3.73%, Sun Pharma up by 2.85%, GAIL India up by 2.84% and BPCL up by 1.82%. On the flip side, Bank of Baroda down by 5.49%, ICICI Bank down by 4.61%, SBI down by 3.72%, PNB down by 3.39% and Bharti Airtel down by 2.52% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 0.84%, Shanghai Composite up by 2%, Taiwan Weighted up by 1.75%, Nikkei 225 up by 1.17% and Hang Seng up by 1.82%. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 0.36% and KOSPI Index was down by 0.33%.