Benchmarks continue firm trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. Traders were seen piling up position in FMCG, Power and Bankex stocks while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, Metal and PSU sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Gammon India was trading in green after the company stated that it is all set to consider a proposal received from an investor for investment in the company’s Engineering Procurement & Construction (EPC) business. Jain Irrigation Systems was trading in green after the company’s food processing arm raised Rs 402 crore from Mandala Capital. The market may remain volatile today as traders may roll over positions in the Futures & Options (F&O) segment from the near month i.e. March 2016 series to next month i.e. April 2016 series. The near month March 2016 derivatives contracts will expire today i.e. March 31, 2016.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green, while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 7,750 and 25,400 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1225:1163 while 167 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25420.74, up by 82.16 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 25341.47 and 25479.62. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.45%, while Small cap index up by 0.40%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.94%, Power up by 0.93%, Bankex up by 0.68%, TECK up by 0.36%, IT up by 0.28% while, Oil & Gas down by 0.61%, Metal down by 0.37%, PSU down by 0.11%, Realty down by 0.07% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 1.76%, ITC up by 1.61%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.15%, HDFC Bank up by 1.03% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.99%.

On the flip side, GAIL India down by 1.68%, Asian Paints down by 1.02%, BHEL down by 0.96%, Adani Ports & Special down by 0.89% and Tata Steel down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid fall in global prices, the government has reduced the cost of locally produced gas by about 20% for the six months period starting 1 April 2016 compared with previous six months period. Prices will be cut to $3.06 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) in the first half of the next fiscal year, on gross heat value basis. It will cost about $3.4 per mmBtu on a net heat value basis compared with $4.24 per mmBtu in the period between October 2015 to March 2016. The move will benefit fertiliser, power and steel companies who heavily rely on natural gas as it will ease the working capital burden.

During the revision in October last year, gas price had reduced by 18% to $3.82 per unit from $4.66 per, reflecting the declining trend in the benchmark markets. On net calorific value (NCV) basis, the new gas price for October 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016 came to $4.24 per mmBtu as compared to $5.18 previously.

As per the new gas pricing formula approved by the NDA-government in October 2014, gas prices are to be revised every six months and calculated based on a volume weighted average of rates in gas surplus nations of the US, Canada and Russia, based on the 12-month trailing average price with a lag of three months.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7758.05, up by 22.85 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 7725.50 and 7777.60. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Power up by 3.67%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.87%, Idea Cellular up by 1.74%, Sun Pharma up by 1.71% and Indusind Bank up by 1.70%.

On the flip side, Cairn India down by 3.29%, GAIL India down by 1.42%, Bosch down by 1.32%, Adani Ports & Special down by 1.06% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.04% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.49 points or 0.03% to 1,718.31, Shanghai Composite increased 3.27 points or 0.11% to 3,003.92, Taiwan Weighted increased 7.79 points or 0.09% to 8,744.83 and Jakarta Composite increased 17.63 points or 0.37% to 4,834.29.

On the other hand, Nikkei 225 decreased 120.29 points or 0.71% to 16,758.67, Hang Seng decreased 26.69 points or 0.13% to 20,776.70 and KOSPI Index decreased 6.29 points or 0.31% to 1,995.85.

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 36.36 points or 0.59% to 6,166.81, Germany’s DAX decreased 62.71 points or 0.62% to 9,983.90 and France’s CAC decreased 51.55 points or 1.16% to 4,392.87.