Jubilation continues on Dalal Street in late morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade jubilantly in late morning session after poll result trends in Karnataka showed that BJP stands to win a clear majority in the state. Sentiments also remained up-beat with India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) expecting the Corporate Outlook for FY19 to remain stable, driven by profitability improvement in FY18, leading to deleveraging. However, the improvement remains restricted to the metals sector and a broader recovery could take much longer. Buying in metal banking and software pack too aided sentiments. However, global cues remained subdued with most of the Asian counterparts trading in red. Back home, select real estate stocks were buzzing on report that housing sales increased by 25% in the country’s seven major cities in April to 1,726 units over the previous month, driven by the Delhi-NCR market which saw a sharp rise in demand. In scrip specific developments, South Indian Bank strengthened on reporting 51% rise in Q4 net profit and Himalaya Food International gained on launching sixth QSK store in Haryana.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35864.48, up by 307.77 points or 0.87% after trading in a range of 35498.83 and 35993.53. There were 26 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.48%, while Small cap index was up by 0.90%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.62%, Bankex up by 1.38%, IT up by 1.07%, Power up by 1.06% and Capital Goods was up by 1.06%, while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 3.20%, Yes Bank up by 2.36%, Power Grid Corporation up by 2.34%, ONGC up by 2.19% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.91%. On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.62%, Tata Motors down by 1.51%, ITC down by 0.69%, Coal India down by 0.20% and Sun Pharma down by 0.14% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in yet another effort to boost clean energy generation, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has unveiled India’s national wind-solar hybrid policy. The new policy seeks to provide a comprehensive framework for promotion of large grid connected wind-solar photovoltaic (PV) hybrid system for efficient utilization of transmission infrastructure and land. It also aims at reducing the variability in renewable power generation and achieving better grid stability. That apart, it also aims to encourage new technologies, methods and way-outs involving combined operation of wind and solar PV plants.

The Ministry has said that solar and wind power being variable in nature pose certain challenges on grid security and stability and therefore suitable policy interventions are required not only for new wind-solar hybrid plants, but also for encouraging hybridisation of existing plants. Further, the policy provides for procurement of power from a hybrid project on tariff-based transparent bidding process for which government entities may invite bids. It also permits use of battery storage in hybrid projects for optimising output and further reduce variability.

The renewable energy policy also mandates the regulatory authorities to formulate necessary standards and regulations for wind-solar hybrid systems. Under the policy which is first, the government will extend all fiscal and financial incentives available to wind and solar power projects to hybrid projects. It will also support technology development projects in the field. On the technology front, the policy provides for the integration of both the energy sources, wind and solar, at Alternating Current (AC) as well as Direct Current (DC) levels. Besides, the government has set a target of 175 gigawatt (GW) renewable power installed capacity by the end of 2022.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10894.70, up by 88.10 points or 0.82% after trading in a range of 10789.80 and 10929.20. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 3.14%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.90%, Yes Bank up by 2.36%, Power Grid Corporation up by 2.34% and ONGC up by 2.24%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.33%, Indiabulls Housing down by 0.79%, Bharti Infratel down by 0.73%, ITC down by 0.70% and Grasim Industries down by 0.45% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 352.94 points or 1.12% to 31,188.14, Taiwan Weighted decreased 77.66 points or 0.71% to 10,874.73, Jakarta Composite dropped 75.65 points or 1.27% to 5,871.51, Nikkei 225 shed 59.13 points or 0.26% to 22,806.73, KOSPI Index fell 16.55 points or 0.67% to 2,459.56 and Shanghai Composite was down by 1.4 points or 0.04% to 3,172.63. 

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 5.38 points or 0.29% to 1,855.80.