Markets hover near intraday high levels; Sensex gains 400 points

Indian equity indices were trading at high point of day in late afternoon session, as investors opted to buy beaten-down but fundamentally strong stocks amid firm global cues. Both, Sensex and Nifty reclaimed their psychological 26,700 and 8,200 levels respectively; the broader indices too were trading with over a percent gain. Sentiments remained up-beat from the start of the session with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saying that demonetisation will boost growth in long run. The Finance Minister said the country will now have a cleaner economy, cleaner ethics and better GDP, he added that the economy, in the long term, is looking for a major change and policy makers now have a vision. On the global front, European markets were trading in green on hopes that the European Central Bank (ECB) will extend its bond buying program beyond March 2017 at a policy meeting later in the session. ECB President Mario Draghi will hold the customary post-meeting press conference following the rate announcement. Back home, in scrip specific development, Cipla was trading in green after the company said it received final approval for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Entecavir Tablets USP 0.5 mg and 1 mg, from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26714.34, up by 477.47 points or 1.82% after trading in a range of 26357.35 and 26721.93. There were 29 stocks advancing against 1 stock declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged 1.41%, while Small cap index was up by 1.27%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.77%, Auto up by 2.52%, Consumer Durables up by 1.83%, FMCG up by 1.74% and IT up by 1.72%, while there were no losing indices on BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 4.34%, Adani Ports &Special up by 3.84%, Tata Motors up by 3.66%, ITC up by 2.77% and Bajaj Auto up by 2.46%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 0.55% was the sole loser.

Meanwhile, the government has sought the Parliament’s approval for gross additional expenditure of Rs 59,978.29 crore, including a net cash outgo of Rs 35,171.92 crore and the rest matched by savings of ministries or by enhanced receipts or recoveries aggregating to Rs 24,805.34 crore, as part of the second batch of supplementary demand for grants for the fiscal 2016-17. Though, the document was silent on whether this additional spend would affect the Centre's fiscal deficit position or not.

As per the demand Rs 3,096.28 crore has been sought for transfer of Krishi Kalyan Cess to Krishi Kalyan Kosh and meeting additional requirement towards general component, special component of Schedule Cast and Tribal Sub-Plan under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. The Demands for Grants also include Rs 861.65 crore for equity investment in Air India and carrying out accounting adjustments for conversion of loan outstanding against Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited into equity.

The government has sought approval to provide an additional Rs 4,000 crore to the flagship rural jobs scheme under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MGNREGA). Further, it include Rs 2,500 crore for Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and Rs 210 crore for implementation of GST and project Saksham. The expenditure also includes clearing pending claims for maintenance of Prime Minister's aircraft (Rs 193 crore), Cyber Security Research and Development Scheme of National Security Council Secretariat (Rs 50 crore) and Grants-in-General to National Authority Chemical Weapons Convention Help Desks (Rs 1.01 crore). As per the document, Rs 550 crore has been sought for meeting expenditure under grants-in- aid towards security related expenditure of Jammu and Kashmir.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while presenting the supplementary demand also sought approval of the House for Rs 1,000 crore for meeting additional expenditure of Coast Guard Organisation towards acquisition of ships, aricraft and fleet, and land acquisition. He also sought token provisions for enabling re-appropriation of savings in cases invloving new service or new instrument of service.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8248.65, up by 146.60 points or 1.81% after trading in a range of 8151.75 and 8251.80. There were 47 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 4.52%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 4.38%, Adani Ports &Special up by 3.77%, Tata Motors up by 3.76% and Bosch up by 3.35%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 2.03%, NTPC down by 0.61%, Eicher Motors down by 0.59% and Aurobindo Pharma down by 0.46% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 7.17 points or 0.44% to 1,639.64, Jakarta Composite added 30.95 points or 0.59% to 5,296.31, KOSPI Index surged 39.18 points or 1.97% to 2,031.07, Hang Seng increased 60.92 points or 0.27% to 22,861.84, Taiwan Weighted advanced 111.97 points or 1.21% to 9,375.86 and Nikkei 225 was up by 268.78 points or 1.45% to 18,765.47, while Shanghai Composite was down by 6.88 points or 0.21% to 3,215.37.

All the European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 rose 7.4 points or 0.11% to 6,909.63, France’s CAC increased 11.08 points or 0.24% to 4,705.80 and Germany’s DAX was up by 57.17 points or 0.52% to 11,043.86.