Benchmarks trade higher in opening deals

Sentiments remained bullish in the morning session and domestic bourses have made a positive start tracing firm Asian cues. The global cues too remained supportive as the Asian markets were trading mostly in the green on rising hopes that central banks in the US and China may ease monetary policy to support the economies. Though, the US markets made a mixed closing on Wednesday, in late trades there was a rebound after the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve policy meeting showed growing support for additional stimulus very soon, unless the economy improves considerably. Back home, the sentiments also got some boost, after Finance Minister P Chidambaram cleared a proposal to raise foreign direct investment limit in insurance and pension sectors to 49%, which was deferred because of opposition from allies such as Trinamool Congress. Moreover, reports that government and RBI have further eased overseas borrowing norms for Indian companies by allowing those in the infrastructure and manufacturing space to refinance a higher level of their rupee loans using external loans also boosted the investors’ confidence. On sectoral front, metal witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by consumer durables and healthcare while, auto, oil and gas and power remained the few losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were going neck-to-neck with benchmarks. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 964 shares on the gaining side against 496 shares on the losing side while 87 shares remained unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex opened at 17,856.29; about 10 points higher compared to its previous closing of 17,846.86, and has touched a high of 17,936.86 while low remained its opening.

The index is currently trading at 17,894.87, up by 89.40 points or 0.51%. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 62.31% stocks advancing against 32.06% declines. The broader indices too were trading in-line with benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices surged 0.50% and 0.30% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Metal up by 1.26%, CD up by 0.83%, HC up by 0.70%, IT up by 0.60% and Bankex up by 0.46% while, Auto down by 0.18%, Oil and Gas down by 0.09% and Power down by 0.08% remained the few losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Jindal Steel up by 2.85%, Wipro up by 1.85%, Tata Steel up by 1.48%, Hindalco up by 1.37% and Cipla up by 1.07%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel was down by 0.82%, NTPC was down by 0.82%, Tata Motors was down by 0.87%, Bajaj Auto was down by 0.53% and ONGC was down by 0.28% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the finance ministry has proposed to hike the foreign direct investment (FDI) in insurance and pension sector, to 49 percent. However, the Insurance and Pension Bills will now need Cabinet approval before coming up in Parliament. 

These bills, earlier also were sent to the Cabinet, for the approval, but with the idea of allowing 26% FDI in the sector, which was later deferred in light of the difficulty faced by the Centre for driving reforms that are sorely needed to shore up weakening economic growth. 

Both these Bills have seen strong opposition from the Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress. However, if the Cabinet this time around clears these two bills, the same could be introduced in the winter session of parliament.

Insurance reform is widely seen as imperative because, according to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) estimates, the sector would require a capital infusion of over $12 billion over the next five years. Along with raising the FDI limit, the insurance amendment bill aims to strengthen regulation of the sector and allow foreign re-insurers to enter the Indian market.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,426.15; about 14 points higher compared to its previous closing of 5,412.85, and has touched a high and a low of 5,439.05 and 5,424.60 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,426.25, higher by 13.40 points or 0.25%. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Jindal Steel up by 2.78%, Wipro up by 1.89%, Tata Steel up by 1.50%, Hindalco up by 1.46% and JP Associates up by 1.42%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 0.85%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.84%, NTPC down by 0.76%, Ambuja Cement down by 0.73% and BPCL down by 0.69%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian markets were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite was up by 0.07 points to 2,107.78, Hang Seng surged by 183.57 points or 0.92% to 20,071.35, Jakarta Composite was up by 14.98 points or 0.36% to 4,174.44, Straits Times gained 14.23 points or 0.48% to 3,064.24 and Kospi Composite added 2.53 points or 0.16% to 1,938.06

On the other hand, KLSE Composite was flat at 1,652.28, Nikkei 225 declined by 1.19 points or 0.01% to 9,130.55 and Taiwan Weighted has lost 10.13 points or 0.14% to 7,486.45.