Sensex, Nifty hit fresh intraday high; Metal stocks shine

Key Indian benchmarks extended gains in late morning session to hit their fresh intraday high, with Sensex and Nifty surpassing 33,200 and10,250 levels respectively, supported by firm Asian cues. Besides, higher buying in Metal, Basic Materials, FMCG and Auto stocks, too supported the sentiments. Traders were taking comfort with the Finance Ministry’s statement that the provisions of the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, 2017 (FRDI Bill), under consideration of a joint parliamentary committee, are aimed at protecting the interests of depositors and provides more protection to them compared to existing provisions. On the sectoral front, banking shares were trading higher with the report that loan growth in banks picked up to a hit a 3-year high in November boosting early signs of revival in demand after credit offtake had touched multi-year low in the past year, while some of airlines stocks were up with Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha’s statement that India's aviation market would overtake the United States (US) and China, by hitting a billion passenger trips per year in the next 10 to 15 years.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, guided by Wall Street gains and healthy quarterly economic data from Japan. Japan's economy grew at a much faster pace than initially estimated in the July-September quarter. The nation's gross domestic product grew at an annualized pace of 2.5% from the previous three months, according to government data released Friday. Back home, in scrip specific development, Cadila Healthcare gained after the company’s wholly owned subsidiary - Zydus Pharmaceuticals (USA) Inc., received the final approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market Clozapine Tablets in strengths of 25 mg, 50 mg, 100 mg, and 200 mg.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33222.35, up by 273.14 points or 0.83% after trading in a range of 33034.20 and 33226.57. There were 24 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.79%, while Small cap index was up by 1.10%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.18%, Basic Materials up by 1.74%, FMCG up by 1.35%, Auto up by 1.20% and Telecom up by 1.06%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.49%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.43%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.20%, Tata Motors up by 1.88% and ONGC up by 1.72%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.79%, SBI down by 0.76%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.54%, Reliance Industries down by 0.51% and NTPC down by 0.42% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha has expressed his hopes that India's aviation market would overtake the United States (US) and China, by hitting a billion passenger trips per year in the next 10 to 15 years. He noted that the growth in aviation sector is extraordinary and it has been actually growing at 15-20 percent, over the last three-four years. He also feels that from 100 million passenger trips a few years ago, the industry will double to about 200 million passenger trips this fiscal.

Sinha highlighted that in fact, India is already the third largest domestic aviation market in the world, only behind to the US and China. He noted that the US stood at around 900 million passenger trips per year and China was at around 600 million. Therefore, he said that to achieve one billion passenger trips market in the next 15-20 years, they will have to go from 500 planes in the sky to about 2000 planes. Adding further, he mentioned that aviation was going to be one of the largest industries in India and airlines had already placed orders for 935 planes.

The minister further said that the government is trying to spread air connectivity throughout the country. He also said that “We have grown the aviation sector to see the PM's dream of 'sab udenge, sab judenge' being realized.” Besides, he showed that the aviation industry generated a turnover of about Rs 1.8 lakh crore in FY18 which is equal to that of the Indian Railways. He added that currently, the airline industry is as big as the Indian Railways and the Indian telecom industry.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10258.00, up by 91.30 points or 0.90% after trading in a range of 10195.25 and 10259.25. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 3.36%, Vedanta up by 2.70%, Hindalco up by 2.68%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.34% and Maruti Suzuki up by 2.29%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 1.75%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.79%, NTPC down by 0.72%, SBI down by 0.63% and Reliance Industries down by 0.55% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in green; KOSPI Index increased 1.18 points or 0.05% to 2,463.16, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 4.24 points or 0.25% to 1,723.29, Shanghai Composite increased 17.24 points or 0.53% to 3,289.29, Jakarta Composite increased 27.14 points or 0.45% to 6,033.97, Taiwan Weighted increased 42.86 points or 0.41% to 10,398.62, Nikkei 225 increased 281.37 points or 1.25% to 22,779.40 and Hang Seng increased 308.79 points or 1.09% to 28,611.98.