Markets extends last session gains with a gap-up opening

Extending the last session gains, Indian equity benchmarks made a gap-up start and are currently trading in fine fettle on Monday, with Sensex and Nifty recapturing their crucial 25,600 and 7,850 levels respectively. Sentiments on the street improved with a private report that India's GDP growth for the fourth quarter of 2015-16 is likely to improve to 7.8 per cent - the highest pace in six quarters - on account of uptrend in economic activity and favorable base effect. Further, support also came in with Ficci stating that Chabahar Port agreement with Iran is a landmark development that will help Indian companies boost their engagement in Central Asia and also significantly reduce the transportation cost. Moreover, traders were getting encouragement with Private weather forecaster Skymet predicting an above normal monsoon in India, starting in July. On Tuesday it announced that the monsoon will be 109% of the long-period average, for the four-month period from June to September. It also said the monsoon would arrive on time in Kerala. Besides, appreciation in Indian rupee against dollar too supported the markets. Reversing its nine-day losing trend, the rupee recovered 20 paise to 67.55 against the US dollar in early trade today on account of fresh selling of the American currency by exporters and banks. However, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 815.53 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

In the scrip specific development, Tech Mahindra surged 14 percent after the company reported a better-than-expected 18% quarter-on-quarter growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 897 crore for the quarter ended March, 2016 (Q4FY16). However, Cipla dropped over 7 per cent  on the BSE, after the company reported a sharp 69% year-on-year drop in net profit to Rs 81 crore in the quarter ended March 2016 (Q4FY16), on account of one-off expenses related to inventory reduction and closure of business in some small-sized foreign markets.

On the global front, US markets ended higher on Tuesday following encouraging reports on the housing market and sharp gains in European stocks. Asian markets were trading in green taking cues from sharp gains in US markets. Japanese market traded higher as exporters received a boost from a stronger dollar following firm U.S. housing data and as growing support for the British campaign to remain in the European Union bolstered global risk appetite.

Back Home, all the sector indices on the BSE were trading in green led by IT, TECK, Realty, Bankex and Capital Goods. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1188: 333 while 69 scrips remained unchanged. Meanwhile, the session was also proving jubilant for broader indices, which were trading with gains of around a percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25623.83, up by 318.36 points or 1.26% after trading in a range of 25430.59 and 25638.52. There were 29 stocks advancing against 1 stock declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.84%, while Small cap index gained 0.82%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.10%, TECK up by 1.89%, Realty up by 1.80%, Bankex up by 1.77% and Capital Goods up by 1.40%, while there were no losers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 2.34%, Axis Bank up by 2.20%, Tata Motors up by 2.15%, ICICI Bank up by 2.12% and TCS up by 1.99%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 6.51% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has announced names of 13 more cities that will be developed under the Centre’s “Smart City Mission.” These all the 13 cities will be eligible for priority funding under the Smart City mission. Each city will receive Central assistance of Rs. 200 crore in the first year and Rs. 100. crore over the three subsequent financial years. State governments and respective urban local bodies will also match the Centre’s contribution.

Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh topped the list, followed by Warangal in Telangana and Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh. The other cities in the order of their ratings include Chandigarh, Raipur, New Town Kolkata, Bhagalpur, Panaji, Port Blair, Imphal, Ranchi, Agartala and Faridabad.

Releasing the list, Union minister Venkaiah Naidu said that “Smart City mission is running ahead of schedule. As per the initial plan, 40 cities were to be selected for funding during this financial year by July-August; of this we have already selected 33. The remaining 7 cities will be chosen in the next financial year and ten cities that failed to make the cut in the present round, Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh), Shillong (Meghalaya), Namchi (Sikkim), Diu (Daman & Diu), Oulgaret (Puducherry), Silvassa (Dadra and Nagar Haveli), Kohima (Nagaland), Aizawl (Mizoram), Kavaratti (Lakshadweep) and Dehradun (Uttarakhand), will be able to participate in the next round with other cities.

The 13 cities selected in the competition have proposed a total investment of Rs 30,229 crore. With this, the investment proposed by 33 cities through Union and state governments as well as private funding, comes to Rs 80,789 crore. 20 cities had already made the cut in January under the smart city plans. In a significant step, the urban development ministry has now announced that instead of the originally proposed 100 Smart Cities, now 109 cities will compete to be part of the mission.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7855.95, up by 107.10 points or 1.38% after trading in a range of 7809.30 and 7859.40. There were 50 stocks advancing against 1 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 9.42%, Hindalco up by 3.01%, Indusind Bank up by 2.87%, Ambuja Cement up by 2.25% and Tata Motors up by 2.24%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 6.49% was the only loser.

Asian markets were trading in green, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.5 points or 0.03% to 1,626.34, Shanghai Composite increased 7.66 points or 0.27% to 2,829.33, KOSPI Index increased 24.71 points or 1.28% to 1,962.39, Jakarta Composite increased 39.29 points or 0.83% to 4,750.07, Taiwan Weighted increased 109.7 points or 1.32% to 8,410.36, Nikkei 225 increased 296.91 points or 1.8% to 16,795.67 and Hang Seng increased 498.07 points or 2.51% to 20,328.50.