Benchmarks make optimistic start; Nifty re-conquers 5,900 mark

Indian equity markets have made optimistic start on first day of new F&O series with frontline indices re-conquering their crucial 19,400 (Sensex) and 5,900 (Nifty) levels. The undertone remained upbeat on optimism that the US fiscal cliff issue will be resolved, which in turn could boost sentiment in global markets. Domestic bourses got major support from Asian markets as all the regional peers were trading in the green terrain at this point of time with Japanese market once again taking the lead as yen continued its slide against the US dollar and weak economic data triggered hopes of some stimulus from central bank. Moreover, US markets made some recovery in last hour of trade to end marginally lower overnight on report that the House of Representatives will reconvene on Sunday evening to resume talks to avert the fiscal cliff. 

Back home, sustained buying in key heavyweights along with broader indices kept the markets on the positive side. Meanwhile, some support also came in after PSU oil marketing companies surged on reports the petroleum ministry has proposed a gradual rise in diesel prices, by 1 per litre every month over a 10-month period, in order to avoid controversy engendered by steep hikes in infrequent revisions. On the other hand, Bharti Infratel got sluggish response from investors and was trading with a cut of over 11 percent on its debut. On the sectoral front, oil and gas witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by public sector undertaking and power with no 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 1,141 shares on the gaining side against 463 shares on the losing side while 62 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 19,364.08; about 40 points higher compared to its previous closing of 19,323.80, and has touched a high and a low of 19,427.79 and 19,346.07 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 19,409.16, up by 85.36 points or 0.44%. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 68.49% stocks advancing against 27.79% declines. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 0.64% and 0.47% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Oil & Gas up by 1.53%, PSU up by 0.96%, Power up by 0.95%, Metal up by 0.79% and Capital Goods up by 0.70% while, there were no losers in the space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco Industries up by 2.07%, ONGC up by 2.06%, Sterlite Industries up by 1.49%, RIL up by 1.30% and NTPC up by 1.25%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel was down by 1.02%, SBI was down by 0.42%, ITC was down by 0.40%, ICICI Bank was down by 0.22% and HDFC Bank was down by 0.07% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, to discuss the modalities on how Reliance Power should utilize surplus coal from the blocks allocated for Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP), for another project in Chitrangi, the Power and Coal ministries are expected to meet on December 27. The meeting would be related to the coal blocks of 3,960 MW Sasan UMPP in Madhya Pradesh, is likely to be taken by I C P Kesari, joint secretary at the Power Ministry, who looks after Ultra Mega Power Projects.

The meeting is likely to discuss on a suitable mechanism to ensure that conditions stipulated by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) regarding surplus coal of Sasan UMPP are not violated by the developer. Earlier in April this year, an EGoM chaired by the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee decided not to review the earlier decision allowing Reliance Power to use excess coal from the Sasan UMPP mines for the Chitrangi project, also located in Madhya Pradesh.

Reliance Power bagged the 3,960 MW Sasan UMPP in 2007 through competitive bidding. The company was allotted Moher, Moher-Almohri and Chhatrasal captive coal mines for developing the project. At the peak, these blocks' can produce up to 25 million tonnes of coal per annum. Moher, Moher-Almohri can produce 20 million tonnes, while Chhatrasal can produce 5 million tonnes.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,887.15; about 17 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 5,870.10, and has touched a high and a low of 5,904.65 and 5,881.80 respectively. The index is currently trading at 5,900.40, higher by 30.30 points or 0.52%. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were BPCL up by 4.93%, ONGC up by 2.22%, Hindalco Industries up by 2.07%, IDFC up by 1.52% and Ambuja Cement up by 1.50%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.02%, SBI down by 0.42%, Axis Bank down by 0.41%, ITC down by 0.26% and HDFC Bank down by 0.14%, were the major losers on the index.

All Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite rose 7.24 points or 0.33% to 2,213.13, Hang Seng added 10.59 points or 0.05% to 22,630.37, Jakarta Composite surged 18.87 points or 0.44% to 4,300.73, KLSE Composite jumped 5.71 points or 0.34% to 1,679.87, Nikkei 225 soared 73.90 points or 0.72% to 10,396.88, Straits Times moved up 1.34 points or 0.04% to 3,185.27, KOSPI Composite increased 6.09 points or 0.31% to 1,993.44 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 34.71 points or 0.45% to 7,683.12.