Markets extend last session gains with a positive opening; Sensex reclaims 27000 mark

With a positive opening Indian equity benchmarks have extended their last session gains and are now trading higher by around half a per cent, which helped both Sensex and Nifty to reclaim their crucial 27000 and 8,250 levels respectively. Sentiments got a boost with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) stating that the country is all set to receive above-normal monsoon rains this year with a long-period average of 106 per cent. The Met department said that conditions are becoming favourable for the onset of monsoon and it would hit the Indian coast in the next 4-5 days. Further, market participants were also getting encouragement with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the Indian economy will more than double to $5 trillion in a ‘matter of few years’ as the government steps on its reforms agenda to accelerate growth. Meanwhile, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said that with the government policies like ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’ being in place, crossing 8 per cent growth barrier should not be difficult. Besides, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 521.85 crore on June 2, 2016, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges that too supported sentiments.

On the global front, US markets ended higher on Thursday, with health care stocks leading, ahead of the highly anticipated employment report due Friday. Asian Markets were trading mostly in green, following the positive cues overnight from Wall Street, as investors looked to US employment data that could add to or detract from the case for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike this month or in July.

Back home, in the scrip specific development, MOIL surged over 6 per cent on NSE after the company announced that the board will meet on June 7, to consider buyback of equity shares. However, Idea Cellular dropped over 7 per cent on NSE after more than 3 per cent of total equity worth of around Rs 1,400 crore of telecom services company changed hands via multiple block deals.

All the sectoral indices on the BSE were trading in green led by Metal, Bankex, Auto, PSU and IT. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1075: 444 while 60 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26996.68, up by 153.54 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 26915.02 and 26997.27. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.73%, while Small cap index gained 0.56%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.18%, Bankex up by 1.12%, Auto up by 0.88%, PSU up by 0.70% and IT up by 0.63%, while there were no losers. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 3.28%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.89%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.68%, Tata Steel up by 1.57% and ICICI Bank up by 1.43%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.21%, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 0.98%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.59%, Adani Ports &Special down by 0.49% and GAIL India down by 0.39% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, reconfirming its earlier forecast, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that the country is all set to receive above-normal monsoon rains this year and retained its earlier ‘above normal’ forecast for this year’s southwest monsoon, at 106 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA) and above the 50-year average of 89 cm.

IMD in an update to its April monsoon forecast, said the monsoon is expected to be well-distributed across the country and that rains over north-west India would be 8% more; over Central and South India 13% more and over north-east India 6% less than what these regions historically got. Rainfall is expected to be 94% of the 50-year average in the nation’s northeast region. IMD has also forecast 107% of normal rainfall in July and 104% in August.

In its second forecast, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the odds overwhelmingly favoured an above-normal monsoon. The second half of June is expected to receive more rainfall than the first half, and due to a La Nina situation, more rains are likely during September.

The monsoon is considered normal when the rainfall is 96-104% of the LPA and is considered above normal when it is 105-110% of the LPA. The above normal rains are good news for rain-fed Kharif or monsoon crops such as rice, coarse grains, soyabean, pulses and cotton. If the forecast pans out well, it will provide the much-needed relief to rural India.

Agricultural output will rebound from very sluggish performance in the past two year. The monsoon season is crucial, with its onset marking the beginning of the sowing season for monsoon crops in the country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8253.65, up by 34.70 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 8240.90 and 8256.75. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 3.27%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.01%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.63% ,Tech Mahindra up by 1.53% and Tata Steel up by 1.50%. On the flip side, Idea Cellular down by 8.39%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.27%, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 1.08%, Adani Ports &Special down by 0.73% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.69% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 4.71 points or 0.29% to 1,635.24, Taiwan Weighted increased 12.15 points or 0.14% to 8,568.17, Nikkei 225 increased 27.42 points or 0.17% to 16,589.97, Jakarta Composite increased 27.85 points or 0.58% to 4,861.07, Hang Seng increased 48.21 points or 0.23% to 20,907.43

On the flip side, KOSPI Index decreased 2.17 points or 0.11% to 1,982.94 and Shanghai Composite decreased 1.9 points or 0.06% to 2,923.33.