Benchmarks prolong gains for third straight session in morning trade

Sentiments remained bullish in the morning trade with markets hitting 1-1/2-week highs, extending gains for the third straight session on continued buying by funds and retailers tracking positive global cues. The US markets extended their jubilation on the first trading day of the new quarter supported by domestic manufacturing data that continued to improve last month while, most of the Asian counters were trading in the green at this point of time. Back home, BSE’s -- Sensex -- and NSE’s -- Nifty - inching towards their crucial, 17,600 and 5,350 mark respectively, supported by most of the index heavyweights along with broader indices. On sectoral front, consumer durables witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by metal and banking while, auto, software and technology remained the few losers on the BSE sectoral space. Meanwhile, interest rate sensitive realty stocks rose for the third straight day on expectations that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will start cutting interest rates in the coming months to prop up slowing economy. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,161 shares on the gaining side against 397 shares on the losing side while 51 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 17,576.21; about 98 points higher compared to its previous closing of 17,478.15, and has touched a high and a low of 17,628.26 and 17,571.00 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 17,573.56, up by 95.41 points or 0.55%. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 72.16% stocks advancing against 24.67% declines. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 0.86% and 0.91% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CD up by 1.66%, Metal up by 1.45%, Bankex up by 1.22%, Realty up by 1.13% and CG up by 0.99%. While, Auto down by 0.26%, IT down by 0.14% and TECk down by 0.01% remained the few losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 2.19%, Sterlite Industries up by 2.05%, Tata Steel up by 1.85%, HDFC Bank up by 1.42% and Tata Power up by 1.40%.

On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp was down by 0.88%, TCS was down by 0.85%, M&M was down by 0.71%, Maruti Suzuki was down by 0.64% and Sun Pharma was down by 0.60% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to rationalize the consumption of power in India, the government has come up with energy efficiency targets for the core industries. The shortlisted companies account for more than one third of energy consumption in India and include companies like Reliance India and Vedanta Aluminium Company.

The sectors covered are iron & steel, cement, fertilizers, aluminum, pulp & paper, chlor-alkali, textiles and thermal power stations and include 478 most energy-intensive industrial units of India. The targeted list includes plants using more than a specific amount of energy and reflects the amount of energy that an organisation must save in producing its product rather than just an overall reduction in its energy consumption.

The government has also come up with a reward and penalty mechanism. Companies which do achieve greater energy efficiency improvements within the specified targets can capture the excess savings through the issuance of energy saving certificates. These certificates can be traded and bought by other units covered by the programme when the companies find it expensive to meet their targets through own actions. Units which are unable to meet their targets will be liable for penalty of Rs 10,154 for every shortfall of 1 tonne of oil equivalent in the achievement of the target.

The current proposal is part of India’s commitments to lessen the effects of greenhouse gas emissions.  The action plan hopes to emulate the clean development mechanism process under which several Indian companies gain carbon credits in return for implementing clean technologies, which can then be sold to companies in Europe. India, without participating in any international legal commitments, has agreed that its per capita emissions of carbon dioxide would never exceed that of the western countries.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,353.20; about 36 points higher compared to its previous closing of 5,317.90, and has touched a high and a low of 5,361.15 and 5,344.45 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,348.75, higher by 30.85 points or 0.58%. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Cairn up by 2.61%, Hindalco up by 2.59%, JP Associates up by 2.36%, Sesa Goa up by 2.34% and Sterlite Industries up by 2.33%.

On the flip side, TCS down by 0.94%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.92%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.91%, M&M down by 0.72% and Sun Pharma down by 0.52%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian markets were trading in the green; Hang Seng was up 99.21 points or 0.48% to 20,621.47, Jakarta Composite was up 48.58 points or 1.17% to 4,214.65, KLSE Composite was up 3.77 points or 0.24% to 1,607.55, Seoul Composite was up by 15.98 points or 0.79% to 2,045.27.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down 54.05 points or 0.53% to 10,055.82, Straits Times was down 2.66 points or 0.09% to 3,013.41 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 130.10 points or 1.65% to 7,732.80.

Markets in mainland China will remain closed for a three day public holiday starting from Monday on account of Qingming Festival and will reopen on Thursday.