Markets trade higher amid firm global cues; Sensex reclaims 26,000 level

After making a flat closing in last session, Indian equity benchmarks have made a gap up opening and are now trading higher by around a per cent in early deals, on sustained buying activities by market-participants which lifted both Sensex and Nifty above the crucial 26,000 and 7,950 levels respectively. Buying in banking stock aided the sentiment. ICICI Bank, SBI, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank were trading higher on some reports that RBI exempted some banks not to make provision on select accounts. Further, positive trade in other Asian markets too supported sentiments.  However, there was some cautiousness too as traders are waiting for the European Central Bank (ECB) policy meet later today.  Besides, the weakness in rupee too was putting some pressure, the rupee depreciated 9 paise to 66.31 against the US dollar in early trade, in line with the weak trend seen in most Asian currency markets.

In the scrip specific development, Equitas Holdings have made a strong debut on the bourses, with the stock opening 32 per cent higher at Rs 145 against its initial public offer (IPO) price of Rs 110 per share on NSE.

On the global front, US markets ended higher on Wednesday buoyed by a rally in crude oil prices and encouraging data on US home resales for March, which was higher than expected. Asian markets were trading in green following the positive lead overnight from Wall Street and the rebound in crude oil prices to an almost five-month high. Japanese stocks rose to a 5-1/2 week high after the yen resumed a weakening trend against the US dollar amid a bounce in oil prices and growing expectations of further easing from the Bank of Japan.

Back home, all the sectoral indices, barring IT and TECK, were trading in green led by Banking, Consumer Durables, PSU, Oil & Gas and Auto. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1155: 411, while 67 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26074.44, up by 230.26 points or 0.89% after trading in a range of 25965.14 and 26080.07. 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 0.51%, while Small cap index was up by 0.67%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.56%, Consumer Durables up by 1.78%, PSU up by 1.65%, Oil & Gas up by 1.03% and Auto up by 0.99%, while IT down by 0.70% and TECK down by 0.68% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 6.49%, SBI up by 4.64%, Tata Motors up by 2.92%, GAIL India up by 1.89% and Axis Bank up by 1.88%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 6.28%, Infosys down by 0.53%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.52%, TCS down by 0.16% and ITC down by 0.12% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari, under pressure to steer road construction into the fast lane and meet the much-touted 30 km a day target, has set a goal of building 15,000 km of highways this fiscal, two and a half times what was achieved last year of 6,000 km. Of the total length of national highways targeted for award, major will be executed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the balance by the ministry directly and the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL). NHAI’s target for construction has been fixed at 8,000 km while for the ministry and NHIDCL, the (combined) target is 7,000 km.

The rate of highway construction is around 17 km per day at present. The government has set an ambitious target of constructing 41 km of national highways every day in 2016-17. A statement issued by the Ministry said that the construction of roads quickened by 36 per cent in 2015-16, due to several policy interventions. Some of the measures included more project approvals, enhanced inter-ministerial coordination, exit policy for developers, promoting the Hybrid Annuity Model, amendments to the Model Concession Agreement (MCA) for Build-Own-Transfer projects, among others.

The target for awarding of projects has also been enhanced to 25,000 km for 2016-17, again two and a half times the 10,000 km level accomplished in 2015-16. The Ministry said out of the total award target of 25,000 km, NHAI will award 15,000 km and the remaining 10,000 km will be done by the Ministry.

Gadkari expressed confidence that the pace of development that was established last year will result in even better outcomes during the current year. The government has been trying to enhance the confidence of the potential developers of highway projects and lenders and had met bankers and road contractors in January this year in a bid to move forward over stalled highway projects worth Rs 40,000 crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7975.15, up by 60.40 points or 0.76% after trading in a range of 7953.60 and 7978.45. There were 43 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 5.88%, Bank Of Baroda up by 5.08%, SBI up by 4.86%, Tata Motors up by 3.12% and Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.79%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 6.01%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.52%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.62%, Infosys down by 0.52% and ITC down by 0.39% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 7.38 points or 0.43% to 1,716.29, Shanghai Composite increased 12.54 points or 0.42% to 2,985.12, KOSPI Index increased 14.63 points or 0.73% to 2,020.46, Jakarta Composite increased 22.63 points or 0.46% to 4,899.23, Taiwan Weighted increased 30.75 points or 0.36% to 8,545.23, Hang Seng increased 376.94 points or 1.77% to 21,613.25 and Nikkei 225 increased 392.12 points or 2.32% to 17,298.66.