Markets continue to trade in fine fettle; Consumer Durables surge

Indian markets continue to trade in fine fettle in the late morning session, showing a broad based buying by domestic investors and foreign funds, on hopes of above average monsoon rains. Ahead of India Meteorological Department (IMD), issues its forecast for this year's monsoon rains, private weather forecaster Skymet has predicted above average rains this year. A normal monsoon - after two straight years of drought - is likely to boost the farm sector. The government too has said that after two years of deficient rainfall, monsoon this year is expected to be normal. Markets were also getting some support with the gains in rupee, which extending its gains for the third straight session was trading higher against the dollar ahead of the release of industrial production and consumer price index (CPI) data later in the day. However, there was select selling in IT and metal stocks that was restricting major gains in the markets. On the other hand Consumer durable stocks were witnessing good buying interest.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25116.30, up by 94.14 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 24996.44 and 25122.54. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index. (11:02 AM)

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.81%, while Small cap index gained 0.90%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.89%, Oil & Gas up by 1.09%, Auto up by 1.07%, Power up by 0.69%, Bankex up by 0.49%, while Metal down by 0.67%, FMCG down by 0.12% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 1.99%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.88%, ICICI Bank up by 1.67%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.55% and ONGC up by 1.52%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.69%, Tata Steel down by 1.43%, ITC down by 1.16%, HDFC Bank down by 0.62% and TCS down by 0.45% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Indian railways plagued with a long spell of underinvestment, is firming up a National Plan for Railway Infrastructure Development with an ambitious target of pumping more than Rs 8 lakh crore over the next four years.

The massive investment plan would involve high-speed rail connectivity, station redevelopment and capacity augmentation across the country. While part of the funding will come from the capital expenditure provided for in the Rail Budget, a major chunk is expected to come from outside the budget through PPP and multilateral funding. Railways capital expenditure has increased to Rs 97,000 crore in 2015-16 from Rs 57,000 crore in 2014-15 and in the current fiscal it has been pegged at Rs 1.21 lakh crore.

The sector posses’ huge opportunities for investment, while LIC is lending Rs 1.5 lakh crore for rail expansion, avenues for funds from other countries are also being explored. Railways have already signed a Rs 97,636 crore deal with Japan for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project. Besides the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor, Indian Railway is planning to link all metros with high-speed trains as part of its Diamond Quadrilateral project which requires huge private funding.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7698.00, up by 26.60 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 7663.35 and 7701.65. There were 34 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.14%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.10%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.08%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.00% and ICICI Bank up by 1.71%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.78%, ITC down by 1.45%, Tata Steel down by 1.36%, Bharti Infratel down by 0.80% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Asian markets were showing mixed trend, KOSPI Index was up by 10.58 points or 0.54% to 1,980.95, Jakarta Composite gained 27.01 points or 0.56% to 4,813.98, Hang Seng increased by 40.01 points or 0.2% to 20,480.82 and Nikkei 225 surged by 168.47 points or 1.07% to 15,919.60.

On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted declined by 31.82 points or 0.37% to 8,530.77, Shanghai Composite lost 15.45 points or 0.51% to 3,018.51 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was tad lower by 0.82 points or 0.05% to 1,714.46.