Benchmarks hover near highest point of the day

Indian equity benchmarks added gains and are now hovering near the highest point of the day in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. Traders were seen piling positions in Metal, Auto and Realty sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Godfrey Philips India and Golden Tobacco were trading under pressure amid reports that the government may completely ban foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector. Just Dial was trading in red after foreign brokerage firm downgraded the company to neutral from outperform with a reduced target price. The brokerage is not very upbeat on the stock even though it has more than doubled from its recent lows. The market may remain volatile this week as traders may roll over positions in the Futures & Options (F&O) segment from the near month i.e. April 2016 series to next month i.e. May 2016 series. The near month April 2016 derivatives contracts will expire on Thursday i.e. April 28, 2016.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green while the European markets traded on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 7,950 and 25,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1511:886 while 164 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25985.52, up by 306.59 points or 1.19% after trading in a range of 25549.05 and 26023.55. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.68%, while Small cap index up by 0.61%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.97%, Auto up by 1.66%, Realty up by 1.56%, Bankex up by 1.52%, IT up by 1.15%

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 3.73%, Tata Steel up by 3.24%, BHEL up by 3.02%, Tata Motors up by 2.31% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.25%.

On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.75%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 0.65% and ICICI Bank down by 0.26% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has invited applications from public sector entities for allocation of eight mines that have been identified for commercial mining. Among these, two blocks are in Madhya Pradesh; while one each is in Odisha, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Telangana and Chhattisgarh.

The eight coal blocks to be allotted are Baitarni West in Odisha, Dahegaon/Makard hokra IV in Maharashtra, Dongeri Tal II and Marki Barka in Madhya Pradesh, Gourangdih ABC in West Bengal, Patal East in Jharkhand, Penagaddppa in Telangana and Shankarpur Bhatgaon II Extn in Chhattisgarh.

On April 21, the government came out with the notice inviting applications for the mines and that May 31 will be last date for submission of applications and June 1 will be the application opening date. The Nominated Authority will make recommendations to the Centre for selection of allottees on June 8 and on June 10 the results would be published and intimation to allottees would be made. Further, July 15 would be the last date for furnishing of performance security and payment of fixed amount and first installment of Upfront Amount while the allotment order would be issued on July 19.

The decision to open up coal sector is in line with the government’s target of doubling coal production to 1.5 billion tonnes by 2020. For Coal India, the target is 1 billion tonne.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7960.40, up by 105.35 points or 1.34% after trading in a range of 7822.55 and 7966.45. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 tocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 4.78%, Idea Cellular up by 4.70%, IndusInd Bank up by 4.16%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.70% and BHEL up by 3.26%.

On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 0.93%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.57%, ICICI Bank down by 0.16% and Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 0.15% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 5.08 points or 0.25% to 2,019.63, Shanghai Composite increased 18.03 points or 0.61% to 2,964.70, Taiwan Weighted increased 21.29 points or 0.25% to 8,581.57 and Hang Seng increased 102.83 points or 0.48% to 21,407.27.

On the other hand, Nikkei 225 decreased 86.02 points or 0.49% to 17,353.28, Jakarta Composite decreased 63.36 points or 1.3% to 4,815.50 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 19.3 points or 1.13% to 1,695.21.

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 32.62 points or 0.52% to 6,293.54, France’s CAC increased 22.81 points or 0.5% to 4,568.93 and Germany’s DAX increased 53.33 points or 0.52% to 10,347.68.