Sensex, Nifty continue to trade in green

Indian benchmarks- Sensex, Nifty rose over 0.60% in the late morning session on expectations of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank in its monetary policy review next week. Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green at this point of time on hopes that US Federal Reserve will take fresh economic stimulus measures this week to support growth in the world largest economy. On the home turf, the traders were seen piling up position in Healthcare, FMCG and Bankex, while selling was seen in Realty, and Auto sector. In the scrip specific development, NMDC edged higher after reporting that government may announce a floor price issue in a range of Rs 145 to Rs 150 a share. Auto sector was trading under pressure after reporting that Sri Lanka government has increased import duty on commercial and utility vehicles by over 100% and this comes after a similar move on two-wheelers and small cars in April. Kingfisher Airlines was trading in green on reporting  that Etihad Airways is all set to pick 48 percent stake in debt-ridden carrier Kingfisher Airlines  for a sum of over Rs 3000 crore. The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5,900 and 19500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, in the ratio of 1283:872.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19557.70 up by 148.01 points or 0.76% after trading in a range of 19612.18 and 19466.29. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.01% and Small cap index was up by 0.43%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Healthcare up by 1.35%, FMCG up by 0.89%, Bankex up by 0.74%, CD up by 0.73%, and IT up by 0.63%. While, Realty down by 0.08% and Auto down by 0.04%, were only the losers on the index

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.33%, Jindal Steel up by 1.94%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.93%, HDFC up by 1.92% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.84%. On the flip side, BHEL was down by 1.48,  Hindalco Inds was down by 1.46,  Tata Motors was down by 0.71,  Maruti Suzuki was down by 0.47, and Sterlite Industries  was down by 0.31 were the top losers on the Sensex

Meanwhile, the government has formally tabled a Bill to amend the Competition Act of 2002, which seeks to give more edge to the Competition Commission of India (CCI), the country’s anti-trust watchdog; however it will have to be passed by both houses of Parliament before it comes into force.

The Act, once enforced, will give the CCI chairman direct powers to authorise its Director General to order search and seizure operations in which gathering evidence would be faster and that investigation would be kept confidential, while in the present case the commission’s investigation wing has to get the approval of a chief metropolitan magistrate for this. The DG is the investigating arm of the CCI that keeps a tab on anti-competitive practices in the marketplace.

The new Bill would make it mandatory for the competition panel to decide on corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&A) within a stipulated time limit of 180 days from the current stipulation time limit of 210 days. CCI can currently only scrutinize M&As in which the combined turnover of the acquirer and the company being acquired is Rs 4,500 crore or more and Rs 1,500 crore or more in terms of assets.

Further the government has added a new part to Section 5 of the Act, which deals with business combinations of corporate entities and gives power to the central government to specify different values of assets and turnover for scrutinizing combinations.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,948.95, up by 40.05 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 5,965.15 and 5,923.65. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 3.16%, Ambuja Cement up by 3.14%, ACC up by 2.23%, Bajaj-Auto up by 1.98%, and Ultra Cement up by 1.90%.

On the flip side, BHEL down by 1.81%, Hindalco by 1.38%, Cairn down by 0.78%, Tata Motors down by 0.64%, and Maruti down by 0.54% were the losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Hang Seng gained 37.68 points or 0.17% to 22,314.40, Jakarta Composite was higher by 12.20 points or 0.28% to 4,314.81, KLSE Composite was up by 6.33 points or 0.39% to 1,638.48, Straits Times was up by 15.18 points or 0.49% to 3,129.25 and Seoul Composite was up by 5.46 points or 0.30% to 1,963.01.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite was down by 8.52 points or 0.41% to 2,075.25, Nikkei 225 lost 11.21 points or 0.12% to 9,522.06 and Taiwan Weighted was trading lower by 11.82 points or 0.16% to 7,595.76.