Key indices off day’s high

Key benchmark indices came off day’s highs to trade with small gains in early afternoon trade, with buying witnessed in IT, TECK, Telecom and Energy stocks. Sentiments were positive with NITI Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar’s statement that India GDP growth rate in Q2 is likely at 6.2-6.3% and for the full year could be closer to 7% and for Second-half growth has to be 7.5%. Besides, the rupee appreciating 10 paise to 64.82 against the dollar in early trade, too gave some support to domestic benchmarks to remain in green. However, the markets trimmed the gains with the private report stating that the trade deficit has ballooned to $88 billion between April and October, up 60 percent from the comparable period a year ago due to weak exports and a sharp rise in imports. In scrip specific development, Eicher Motors was up by around a percent with its joint venture launching five variants for the e-commerce industry priced between Rs 16.26 lakh and Rs 27.4 lakh.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, taking the lead from a quiet overnight session on Wall Street as investors parsed through minutes from the US central bank. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33622.69, up by 61.14 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 33522.07 and 33670.19. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.28%, while Small cap index was up by 0.74%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.27%, TECK up by 1.12%, Telecom up by 1.05%, Energy up by 0.80% and Capital Goods up by 0.73%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.36%, Bankex down by 0.17% and Metal down by 0.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.49%, Sun Pharma up by 1.35%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.30%, Reliance Industries up by 1.16% and Lupin up by 0.60%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.77%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.40%, Asian Paints down by 0.76%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.73% and NTPC down by 0.61% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Power Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla has said that power generating companies will be allowed to pass on the cost of retrofitting coal based-power plant for meeting emission norms. His statement came amid reports that the Power Ministry is going ahead for changes in regulations to allow the same. Besides, he said that the industry has been dragging retrofitting of power plants to reduce emission, citing less clarity on the issue but it was always clear. He also expressed his hopes that the deadline for new emission norms for coal-based power plants would be extended by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The cost of retrofitting a power plant ranges from Rs 1-2 crore per megawatt while for new coal-fired plant the cost is pegged at Rs 5 crore per MW. As many as 295 coal-based power plants have got more time of two to four years to meet strict new environment norms which were to be implemented by December 2017. In December 2015, Environment Ministry had unveiled tougher norms relating to consumption of water, particulate matter, SO2, NOx and mercury for coal-based thermal power plants.

Besides, NITI Aayog chief executive officer Amitabh Kant highlighted the issue of 92 GW plants running on high pollution fuels-furnace oil, diesel and pet coke. He also highlighted other issues like stranded assets worth Rs 1.8 lakh crore in gas-based segment alone and India heading towards a situation where stranded power plants would be worth Rs 5 lakh crore. He urged the forum to discuss these contentious issues including poor monitoring of rural and urban feeders, and said that out of 1.2 lakh rural feeders, just 4,000 are being monitored.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10362.55, up by 20.25 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 10331.30 and 10374.30. There were 25 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 2.54%, HPCL up by 1.91%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.83%, Bharti Infratel up by 1.65% and Sun Pharma up by 1.31%. On the flip side, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.63%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.50%, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 1.17%, Hindalco down by 1.05% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.98% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.16 points or 0.07% to 1,724.70, KOSPI Index was up by 1.19 points or 0.05% to 2,541.70 and Taiwan Weighted added 31.98 points or 0.3% to 10,854.57. On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 106.97 points or 0.36% to 29,896.52, Shanghai Composite was down by 54.37 points or 1.58% to 3,376.09 and Jakarta Composite shed 8.36 points or 0.14% to 6,061.42.