Benchmarks continue to trade in green in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in tight range in early noon session, on account of buying by funds and retail investors ahead of release of the Economic Survey later in the day. The beginning of the March F&O series in derivatives contracts and positive global cues kept the markets mood upbeat. Traders were seen piling positions in Consumer Durables, Capital Goods, Bankex, PSU and IT stocks while selling was witnessed in Auto, Power and Oil & Gas sector stocks.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, as a gathering of world finance leaders provided a welter of reassuring comments, but little in the way of actual policy stimulus. Back home, in scrip specific development, shares of Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers were trading higher after the company’s board approved acquistion of minority stake in Food Corporation of India's Sindri unit. Chembond Chemicals was trading higher after the company has signed a Joint Venture (JV) agreement with I-Chem Solution Sdn Bhd, Malaysia, operating in the water treatment solutions business, to serve water treatment market.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 23041.42, up by 65.42 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 23021.94 and 23227.91. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.16%, while Small cap index down by 0.72%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.56%, Capital Goods up by 0.51%, Bankex up by 0.45%, PSU up by 0.39% and IT up by 0.38%, while Auto down by 0.29%, Power down by 0.21% and Oil & Gas down by 0.01% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 3.14%, Axis Bank up by 1.61%, SBI up by 1.58%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.46% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.39%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.79%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.17%, Tata Steel down by 1.63%, GAIL India down by 1.59% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.13% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, extending the ambit of direct benefit transfer, the government is planning to transfer the fertilizer subsidy directly to the farmer’s account. A Parliamentary Standing Committee report has stated that the department of fertiliser (DoF) is working closely with the mission Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) to implement it in fertilizers. It is working on a road map to capture the details of farmers, so that sales data can be captured and subsidy can be transferred to farmers’ accounts directly. The government will conduct a pilot project in 20 districts for direct transfer of subsidy on phosphoric and potassic fertilisers to the farmers. It has been reported that districts of Gujarat and Odisha are being selected to go for the pilot project.

In the current financial year 2015-16, the government has allocated about Rs 73,000 crore for the fertiliser subsidy. Out of the total for domestic urea the government has allocated Rs 38,200 crore and for imported urea Rs 12,300 crore. However, the remaining amount has been set aside for sale of decontrolled phosphoric and potassic fertilisers.

In April 2010, government had decontrolled phosphatic and potassic fertilisers, allowing manufacturers to fix their maximum retail price and get a fixed subsidy. At present, the subsidy is Rs 12,350 a tonne for phosphates and Rs 9,300 a tonne for potash. However, there is a growing view within the government that direct transfer of benefits to farmers would allow for sustainable and measured use of chemical fertilisers.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6988.50, up by 17.90 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 6987.25 and 7052.90. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 3.16%, Axis Bank up by 1.92%, HCL up by 1.79%, Bosch up by 1.68% and SBI up by 1.68%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.81%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.61%, Idea Cellular down by 2.26%, Bank of Baroda down by 1.92% and Tata Steel down by 1.75% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; KOSPI Index increased 1.59 points or 0.08% to 1,920.16, Shanghai Composite increased 4.17 points or 0.15% to 2,745.42, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 4.19 points or 0.25% to 1,662.35, Taiwan Weighted increased 45.3 points or 0.54% to 8,411.16, Jakarta Composite increased 47.41 points or 1.02% to 4,705.73, Nikkei 225 increased 94.07 points or 0.58% to 16,234.41 and Hang Seng increased 271.42 points or 1.44% to 19,160.17.