Sensex, Nifty continues strong trade amid sustained buying

After opening on a firm note, Indian equity markets continued trading with strong gains in the late morning session as White House and congressional lawmakers reached a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, which will delay harsh spending cuts by two months. However, investors were still cautious over country’s widening current account deficit, which stood at 5.4% of GDP in the September quarter as export growth slowed more sharply than imports. Meanwhile, continued capital inflows from foreign funds into equity market boosted the market sentiments. In currency markets, rupee appreciated against dollar on the first day of trading in the New Year amid dollar selling by exporters and some banks. On sectoral front, all were trading in green. Realty stocks, which had a good spell in positive territory on Monday, were in demand once again, amid expectations of a rate cut. Metal, consumer durables, capital goods and bank stocks were mostly trading firm. On the global front, all Asian markets remain closed for trade today on account of New Year. Back home, the market breadth favoring positive trend; there were 1,629 shares on the gaining side against 750 shares on the losing side while 111 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,575.38 up by 148.67 points or 0.77% after trading in a range of 19,588.46 and 19,508.93. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.07% and Small cap index was up by 0.89%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 2.11%, Metal up by 1.46%, Capital Goods up by 1.30%, Power up by 1.14% and Consumer Durables up by 1.13%. While, there were no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Jindal Steel up by 2.39%, Hindalco Industries up by 2.14%, BHEL up by 1.75%, SBI up by 1.75%, and Sterlite Industries up by 1.59%.

On the flip side, Bajaj Auto was down by 0.12% and Wipro was down by 0.11% were the only losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Coal Ministry has invited applications from government firms for allocation of 17 coal blocks, mostly for captive power plants. The process of coal block allocation has been initiated under the amended provisions of Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation Act and Rules framed there under.

The applications have to be submitted within thirty days i.e. to be submitted up to 30th January, 2013 to the Ministry of Coal. 'It has been decided to offer 17 coal blocks (14 coal blocks for end use i.e. for power and 3 coal blocks for mining) to different Government Companies/Undertaking (Central and State),' the Coal Ministry said in a statement.

The government's repeated announcements to make policy for mines allotment transparent and CAG’s report stating potential losses of Rs 1.86 lakh crore to the government in block allotment process to 57 private firms without auction has led to this significant development in the block allocation process.

The blocks on offer are Jilga-Barpali, Baisi, Banai, Bhalmunda, Kente and Kerwa in Chhattisgarh, Gowa, Pachwara South and Kalyanpur-Badalpara in Jharkhand, Mahajanwadi in Maharashtra, Kundanali-Laburi, Sarapal-Nuapara, Tentuloi, Chandrabila and Brahamani in Odisha, Gandbahera-Uhhenia block in Madhya Pradesh and Deocha-Pachami-Dewanganj-Harinsingha in West Bengal.

An inter-ministerial panel, set up to look into coal block allocations to PSUs, recommended, last week, a pre-determined evaluation criteria that include taking into account allotees' track record of developing the mines given to them.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,949.55 up by 44.45 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 5,953.40 and 5,935.20. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Reliance Infrastructure up by 4.44%, Jindal Steel up by 2.42%, JP Associates up by 2.37%, Hindalco Industries up by 2.26% and PNB up by 1.89%.

On the flip side, Wipro down by 0.18%, Asian Paints down by 0.17%, ONGC down by 0.11%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.06% and Hero Moto Corp down by 0.03%, were the major losers on the index.

All the major Asian markets remained closed for trade today on account of the New Year.