Indian equities trade on a firm note; Sensex above 28000 mark

Indian benchmarks are trading on a steady note on Thursday’s noon trades, maintaining over half a percent gain as investors continue to pile up hefty positions almost across the counters. A rally on Wall Street overnight and a fairly steady trend in Asian markets buoyed up sentiment on the Indian bourses. Sensex gained more than 150 points, while Nifty holding its 8,650 mark. Sentiments got further stimulation from Reserve Bank of India’s latest report indicating that the near-term growth outlook for India seems brighter than last fiscal and the economy is likely to expand at 7.6 percent in 2016-17. It has said that a better than anticipated agricultural performance and the possibility of allowances under the 7th Pay Commission's award being paid out in the fourth quarter of 2016-17 provide upsides to this projection. Some support also came with the report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 286.52 crore on August 29, 2016. However, market participants continued to weigh remarks by Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, who said last week in Jackson Hole, that an improving US economy had strengthened the case for a rate increase. The Fed last December delivered its first rate increases in nearly a decade.  Furthermore, the central bank said in its annual report that despite a pickup in growth in the Indian economy, high inflation remains a concern, constraining the ability of the RBI to cut rates.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher on Tuesday as doubts the Federal Reserve really would hike interest rates as soon as September restrained the dollar, while investors continued to count on more policy stimulus elsewhere in the world.

Back home, all BSE sectoral indices were trading in the green. Among them, Auto index gained the most by 1.28 per cent, followed by Realty 1.14 per cent, Banking 1.05 per cent and Oil & Gas 0.88 percent. In scrip specific development, TD Power Systems has soared after the company received an order for supply of 45 railway application generators from a major multi-national company (MNC) for installation in North America. Moreover, Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC) rallied after the company reported 60% year on year jump in net profit of Rs 115 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2016.

The market breadth remained optimistic as there were 1519 shares on the gaining side against 758 shares on the losing side, while 147 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28095.68, up by 193.02 points or 0.69% after trading in a range of 28010.66 and 28138.24. 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 0.76%, while Small cap index up by 0.90%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.28%, Realty up by 1.14%, Bankex up by 1.05%, Oil & Gas up by 0.88% and Metal up by 0.85%, while there were no losers on BSE sectoral space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.77%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.66%, GAIL India up by 2.16%, ICICI Bank up by 1.46% and Lupin up by 1.40%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.45%, Adani Ports &Special down by 0.59%, Coal India down by 0.39%, NTPC down by 0.13% and HDFC down by 0.08% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, government has postponed the mega sale of 2,354.55 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum by two days to begin from October 1, as the industry demanded for starting spectrum auction from an auspicious date. As per the earlier schedule, bids for airwaves was scheduled to start from September 29, which falls during the 'Shradh' period, during which rituals are held to pay homage to the dead and is considered inauspicious to start any new work. The Shradhs are followed by Navratras -- a nine-day festival period. So, telecom operators had demanded that the spectrum sale, which is the biggest ever auction, should begin with the start of Navratra festival which is considered auspicious and not on September 29.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has put on the block a total of 2,354.55 megahertz (MHz) of mobile frequencies for auction in all bands -- 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz and 2300 MHz. All the radiowaves being put for auction can be used for high speed 4G services. At base price, the sale of all spectrums would fetch bids worth Rs 5.63 lakh crore. Of this, the spectrum in premium 700 MHz band alone has potential to attract bids of Rs 4 lakh crore.

Meanwhile, the DoT has already increased time duration of bidding rounds for first five rounds to 90 minutes from 60 minutes earlier, as industry players wanted more time to take decision in which multiple mobile airwaves is being put for auction. The Government is expecting to raise at least Rs 64,000 crore from the auction of about 2,354.55 Mhz of spectrum and Rs 98,995 crore from various levies and services in the telecom sector this financial year. For the first time, the Government has promised to assign spectrum within 30 days of making upfront payment by successful bidders.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8669.05, up by 61.60 points or 0.72% after trading in a range of 8642.25 and 8681.20. There were 43 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.80%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.53%, Hindalco up by 2.15%, GAIL India up by 2.06% and Grasim Industries up by 1.94%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.74%, Adani Ports &Special down by 0.70%, BHEL down by 0.50%, Coal India down by 0.34% and NTPC down by 0.25% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite rose 0.29%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 0.09%, KOSPI Index increased 0.28% and Hang Seng was up by 0.8%. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 0.48%, Nikkei 225 slipped 0.12% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.01%.