Benchmarks continue firm trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued its firm trade hovering near the highest point of the day in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters taking cues from a strong opening in European markets. The sentiments were on firm note from the early trade after the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) raised India’s growth forecast to 7.4% compared to 7.3% expansion projected in November 2015. Traders were seen piling positions in Oil & Gas, Realty and Capital Goods sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Reliance Communications (RCom) was trading firm after Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the proposed merger of Sistema Shyam’s operations into RCom, paving way for the first major consolidation in the intensely competitive sector since 2009. On the other hand, ITC was trading under pressure as there were concerns of an increased excise duty on tobacco in the upcoming Budget. The street expects that there may be an excise duty hike of 10-17 percent in cigarettes in FY17. Maruti Suzuki India was trading in red as the auto manufacturer is reeling under Jat reservation agitation going on in Haryana.

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 7,200 and 23,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1363:990 while 147 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 23818.06, up by 108.91 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 23674.86 and 23847.35. There were 21 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.67%, while Small cap index up by 0.47%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.05%, Realty up by 0.91%, Capital Goods up by 0.73%, Metal up by 0.60%, Bankex up by 0.55%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 3.86%, Reliance Industries up by 2.17%, Sun Pharma up by 2.07%, Asian Paints up by 1.67% and Cipla up by 1.52%.

On the flip side, ITC down by 2.16%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.40%, Wipro down by 1.21%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 1.05% and GAIL India down by 0.84% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing confidence in achieving the target of 18,000 MW by 2017-end, Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal has said that the installed solar power capacity in India has crossed the milestone of 5,000 MW in January this year. Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the Ministries of Power and New & Renewable Energy at its meeting held in Tirupati, Andra Pradesh reviewed the progress of implementation of solar park scheme and steps taken by the NTPC to reduce emissions and increase efficiency.

Goyal further said that the government has initiated world’s largest renewable energy programme by increasing by increasing the existing 35,000 MW by five-fold to 175 GW to be achieved by 2022. Besides, the government has launched several projects like Scheme for Development of Solar Parks which is envisaged to achieve 20 GW through ultra-mega solar parks. The total number of approved solar parks has risen to 33 in 21 states with an aggregate capacity of 19,900 MW as against 25 solar parks planned.

The meeting chaired by Minister Piyush Goyal was attended by members of Lok Sabha Bharat Singh, Om Prakash Yadav, Sushil Kishore Singh, Jayadev Galla and member of the Rajya Sabha Bashistha Narain Singh. MNRE Secretary Upendra Tripathy, Power Secretary P K Pujari among others also attended the meeting.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7245.55, up by 34.80 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 7200.70 and 7249.45. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 3.85%, Bosch up by 3.61%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.96%, Reliance Industries up by 2.18% and Sun Pharma up by 2.13%.

On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.28%, ITC down by 1.92%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 1.48%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.38% and HCL Tech. down by 1.12% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in green; KOSPI Index increased 0.12 points or 0.01% to 1,916.36, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.24 points or 0.01% to 1,675.12, Taiwan Weighted increased 1.64 points or 0.02% to 8,326.68, Jakarta Composite increased 7.85 points or 0.17% to 4,705.41, Shanghai Composite increased 67.15 points or 2.35% to 2,927.18, Nikkei 225 increased 143.88 points or 0.9% to 16,111.05 and Hang Seng increased 178.59 points or 0.93% to 19,464.09.

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 70.71 points or 1.19% to 6,020.94, France’s CAC increased 63.15 points or 1.5% to 4,286.19 and Germany’s DAX increased 161.11 points or 1.72% to 9,549.16.