Local bourses continue to trade higher in early noon session

Mirroring positive global cues, key benchmark indices continued to trade higher in early noon session on buying in frontline blue-chip stocks such as Ultratech Cement, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro and Bajaj Finance. Broader indices too participated in the rally with both mid and small cap indices trading above half a percent. On the sectoral front, real estate sector companies were trading in green with investment in India’s real estate sector is likely to rise by 5 per cent to $ 6.5 billion (around Rs 46,000 crore) this year, driven mainly by huge demand for commercial office assets from IT firms, according to global property consultant Colliers. Aviation stocks remained in focus with report that Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices were increased by 2.6% on January 01 to Rs 64,323.76 per kilolitre from Rs 62,686.51 per kiloliter.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, on optimism about a US-China trade deal as regional markets opened the New Year’s first day of trading. Back home, traders took encouragement with foreign direct investment (FDI) into India grew 15 percent to USD 26 billion during the first half of the current financial year. In scrip specific development, SAIL jumpped on logging 47% rise in sales during December and Apollo Pipes zoomed on registering volume growth of 15% in Q3 FY20.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 41458.89, up by 152.87 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 41328.45 and 41478.59. There were 22 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.53%, while Small cap index was up by 0.97%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Basic Materials up by 2.20%, Metal up by 1.71%, Capital Goods up by 1.14%, Industrials up by 1.07% and Energy was up by 0.77%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.39%, TECK down by 0.21% and IT was down by 0.20% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 3.82%, Tata Steel up by 2.73%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.46%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.34% and Reliance Industries up by 1.16%. On the flip side, TCS down by 0.82%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.69%, Titan Company down by 0.61%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.57% and Sun Pharma Indsutries down by 0.30% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in its latest report for October 2019 has indicated that as many as 388 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or more, have shown cost overruns to the tune of over Rs 4 lakh crore on account of delays and other reasons. The Ministry monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above. Of these 1,636 projects, 388 projects reported cost overruns and 563 projects time escalation. 

According to the report, total original cost of implementation of the 1,636 projects was Rs 19,52,524.85 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 23,53,108.80 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of 4,00,583.95 crore (20.52 percent of original cost). It also noted that the expenditure incurred on these projects till October 2019 stood at Rs 10.32 lakh crore, which is 43.86 percent of the anticipated cost of the projects.

The report further stated that brief reasons for time overruns, as reported by various project implementing agencies, are delays in land acquisition, forest clearance and supply of equipment. Besides, it said there are other reasons like fund constraints, geological surprises, geo-mining conditions, slow progress in civil works, shortage of labour, inadequate mobilisation by the contractor, Maoist problems, court cases, contractual issues, ROU/ROW (right of use/right of way) problems, law and order situation, among others. It also observed that project agencies are not reporting revised cost estimates and commissioning schedules for many projects, indicating that time or cost overrun figures are under-reported.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12234.75, up by 52.25 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 12195.25 and 12236.35. There were 34 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 3.74%, Tata Steel up by 2.73%, JSW Steel up by 2.44%, Vedanta up by 2.30% and Grasim Industries up by 1.93%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 1.14%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.86%, BPCL down by 0.82%, Coal India down by 0.80% and TCS down by 0.75% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 288.75 points or 1.02% to 28,478.50, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 105.16 points or 0.88% to 12,102.30, Shanghai Composite gained 32.46 points or 1.06% to 3,082.58 and Straits Times advanced 10.08 points or 0.31% to 3,232.91. On the flip side, KOSPI fell 16.87 points or 0.77% to 2,180.80 and Jakarta Composite was down by 28.43 points or 0.45% to 6,271.11.