Sensex, Nifty extends early gains as buying gathers momentum

Following positive global cues, Indian equity markets extended early gains as risk appetite improved on global and local front both due to resumption of the Parliament session after the four days of adjournment. Sensex and Nifty were rising to impressive levels with sustained buying at several blue chip counters. Moreover, investors were expecting that the government will speed up reforms, which contributed to the sharp up move of the market. In currency market, rupee extended gains against American currency due to increase in dollar selling by banks. On sectoral front, realty, automobile, bank and capital goods stocks were mostly up with strong gains, while Information technology stocks remain subdued. In global markets, most of the Asian markets were trading in green as sentiment improved after a senior US lawmaker said he was optimistic on reaching a budget deal before the end of the year to avoid a fiscal crisis. Back home, the market breadth favoring positive trend; there were 1,542 shares on the gaining side against 955 shares on the losing side while 128 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,087.68 up by 245.60 points or 1.30% after trading in a range of 19,094.00 and 18,873.63. There were 26 stocks advancing against just 4 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.12% and Small cap index was up by 0.57%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 2.93%, Auto up by 2.01%, Bankex up by 1.61%, CG up by 1.36% and Oil & Gas up by 1.33%, while IT down 0.28% and TECk down 0.15% were only losers on the sectoral space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 4.62%, Bajaj Auto up by 4.07%, Cipla up by 2.99%, HDFC up by 2.77% and ICICI Bank up by 2.25%. While, BHEL down 1.41%, Infosys down 1.32%, Maruti Suzuki down 0.76% and HUL down 0.10% were top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, only those coal mines, which have been explored, would be put up for auction, as per the government. However, of the 54 coal mines identified to be allocated through auction route, only 12 have been explored. Though, the government has not given any time frame for conducting auction of these blocks but Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal had earlier said that auction of coal blocks would not be possible this year because of the long process involved in it. In related development, the Coal Ministry has sought the expertise of Finance Ministry with regard to the bidding documents for selection of mine developer and operator for certain Coal India mines.

Earlier, CAG had estimated that undue benefits to the tune of Rs 1.86 lakh crore might have accrued to private firms on account of allocation of 57 mines to them without auction, though this loss figure has been questioned by the government.

On state level, Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corporation (JSMDC) has requested the Prime Minister and the Union Coal Ministry not to cancel the coal blocks allotted to the state-run public sector company. Among the allocated eight mines, the state government had earlier decided to form a joint venture with private sector companies. Jharkhand had received allocation of 50 coal blocks during 2006 and 2011. The Ministry of Coal had earlier issued a warning to JSMDC that if the coal blocks were not developed immediately it would face cancellation. The Coal Ministry had also issued letters to 6 prominent private companies asking to develop the coal blocks allocated to them immediately.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,793.25, up by 65.80 points or 1.15% after trading in a range of 5,798.00 and 5,736.10. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were, Tata Motors up by 4.48%, Baja Auto up by 3.97%, Cipla up by 3.15%, HDFC up by 2.62% and BPCL up by 2.36%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 1.47%, Infosys down 1.40%, PowerGrid down 1.14%, Maruti down 1.03% and Lupin down by 0.23%, were only losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Kospi Composite up by 1.11%, Straits Times up by 0.93%, Nikkei 225 up by 0.99%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.92%, Hang Seng up by 1.12%, KLSE Composite up by 0.29% and Shanghai Composite was up by 0.20%, while Jakarta Composite down by 0.22% was the lone loser.