Markets continue to trade in fine fettle in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in fine fettle in early noon session, on the back of buying by investors in the bluechip counters amid firm global markets after the US Federal Reserve (US Fed) kept key rates unchanged and brought down the anticipated hikes in 2016 to two from its earlier December 2015 forecast of four. Sentiment remained upbeat with the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee’s statement that India is one of the fastest growing economies of the world and is expected to be among the top three manufacturing destinations by 2020. He also said the stable and consistent policies of the government, favorable demographic dividends, growing infrastructure, sustained availability of low cost skilled work force and strong technical and engineering capabilities has made India a favorable destination for foreign direct investment. Sentiment further improved with productive first half of legislative business with many crucial economic bills like Real Estate bill and Aadhar being passed by the Parliament. It rekindles hope of passage of other pending bills like Bankruptcy Bill, Amendments to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act and even GST.

On the global front, Asian shares gained across the board on Thursday and the dollar was on the defensive after suffering substantial losses as risk appetite revived after the U.S. Federal Reserve reduced the number of interest rate hikes expected this year. Back home, both the Sensex and Nifty were trading above their crucial 24,850 and 7,550 levels, respectively. In scrip specific development, shares of Bharti Airtel were trading higher after the company entered into a definitive agreement with Videocon Telecommunication (VTL) to acquire, at an aggregate consideration of Rs 4,428 crore, rights to use 2 x 5 MHz spectrum in the 1,800 MHz Band allotted to VTL by the government of India on April 5, 2013 for six circles.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24865.39, up by 182.91 points or 0.74% after trading in a range of 24802.44 and 24948.30. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.97%, while Small cap index up by 0.70%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 2.93%, PSU up by 1.84%, Capital Goods up by 1.28%, Metal up by 1.28% and TECK up by 1.22%, while they were no gainers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 4.92%, Adani Ports &Special up by 4.58%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.18%, ICICI Bank up by 3.09% and ONGC up by 3.03%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 2.79%, Sun Pharma down by 1.19%, HDFC down by 0.58%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.42% and Cipla down by 0.23% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to align the domestic rates of the automobile fuels with global benchmark, Oil marketing companies (OMCs) has hiked the price of petrol and diesel by Rs 3.07 per litre and Rs 1.90 per litre respectively. The new rates announced by OMCs which includes state levies will come into effect from midnight March 16/17.

After the price change, petrol will be priced at Rs 59.68 per litre in Delhi as against Rs 56.61 currently, while diesel will be at Rs 48.33 per litre, compared with Rs 46.43 a litre at present. However, a litre of petrol will cost Rs 63.76 in Kolkata; Rs 65.79 in Mumbai, and Rs 59.13 in Chennai, whereas the price of diesel per litre will be Rs 50.75 in Kolkata, Rs 55.06 in Mumbai and Rs.49.09 in Chennai.

The hike in petrol price turns the clock back on the declining trend since January. This is the first hike in petrol prices after seven consecutive reductions. However, for diesel prices, this is the third consecutive hike. Fuel prices were last revised when the Union Budget 2016 was presented on February 29 where petrol was made cheaper by 3.02 per litre and diesel price was hiked by Rs 1.47 per litre.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7566.25, up by 67.50 points or 0.90% after trading in a range of 7541.95 and 7585.30. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 5.82%, GAIL India up by 4.89%, Adani Ports &Special up by 4.40%, Ambuja Cement up by 4.27% and Tech Mahindra up by 4.06%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 3.03%, Sun Pharma down by 1.05%, HDFC down by 0.62%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.47% and Tata Power down by 0.08% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 11.08 points or 0.65% to 1,704.51, KOSPI Index increased 13.09 points or 0.66% to 1,987.99, Jakarta Composite increased 15.45 points or 0.32% to 4,876.90, Shanghai Composite increased 27.5 points or 0.96% to 2,897.93, Taiwan Weighted increased 35.4 points or 0.41% to 8,734.54 and Hang Seng increased 264.19 points or 1.3% to 20,521.89, while Nikkei 225 decreased 120.86 points or 0.71% to 16,853.59.