Benchmarks add gains; Nifty above 6,000 mark

Indian equity markets added gains to continue its firm trade hovering near the highest point of the day in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline counters. The sentiments turned optimistic after the government raised the cap on subsidized cooking gas cylinders (LPG) from six a year to nine and allowing oil companies to revise diesel prices from time to time. The Oil Ministry had proposed Rs 3-4.50 per litre hike in the price of diesel and Rs 100 hike in the price of LPG along with raising the number of subsidized cooking gas cylinders. Traders were seen piling some position in Oil & Gas, Realty and TECk sectors while selling was witnessed in Capital Goods, Metal and Health Care sector. Hectic activity was noticed in telecom company stocks after the cabinet approved a 50% cut in the auction reserve price for airwaves used by phone carriers operating on the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) technology platform.

In the scrip specific movement, Oil marketing companies like HPCL, BPCL and IOC were trading on a firm note after in a surprise move the government permitted state-run companies to set diesel prices. Asian Paints was trading in green after Morgan Stanley initiated an overweight rating to the stock. Bajaj Auto is trading in red after the foreign research firm Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock to hold rating.

On the global front, all the Asian markets were trading in red barring Nikkei 225 while the European markets were trading on a mixed note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,000 and 19,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1250:1461 while 148 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,976.80, up by 159.17 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 19,984.87 and 19,783.41. 17 stocks were advancing against 13 declining ones on the index.

The broader indices too pared some gains; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were holding up by 0.19% and 0.06% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 2.74%, Realty up by 2.08%, TECk up by 1.67%, IT up by 1.50% and PSU up by 1.43%. While, Capital Goods down by 0.41%, Metal down by 0.25%, Health Care down by 0.12% and Consumer Durables down by 0.04% were the only losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 4.83%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.23%, Tata Motors up by 2.80%, Wipro up by 2.25% and Reliance Industries up by 2.14%.

On the flip side, Cipla down by 1.90%, Hero Moto Corp down by 1.16%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.09%, HDFC down by 0.67% and Jindal Steel down by 0.62% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet approved a 50 per cent reduction in the reserve price of CDMA spectrum for the auction to be scheduled in March. In the previous auction, reserve price for CDMA spectrum was 11 times higher than the amount telecom operators paid in 2008, which did not attract bidders due to high reserve price. The decision follows a recommendation by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) which suggested a 50 per cent cut in the reserve price of 800 MHz band.

Earlier, the EGoM on January 7 finalized the schedule for auction of unsold GSM spectrum for the first round along with 900 MHz spectrum and 800 MHz band airwaves used for offering CDMA-based mobile services. Further, the Cabinet had already approved a 30 percent cut in the reserve price of 1,800 MHz band spectrum used for offering GSM services.

Due to high reserve price about 70 percent of the airwaves went unsold in November auction that raised only Rs 9,410 crore, which was less than 25 percent of the amount the government was targeting to raise from spectrum sale for this fiscal. With the government reducing the CDMA spectrum price by 50 per cent then the auction of 800 MHz together with 900 MHz and 1800 MHz airwaves would get up to Rs 45,000 crore at the base price.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,046.05, up by 44.20 points or 0.74% after trading in a range of 6,047.10 and 5,988.10. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were ONGC up by 5.00%, HCL Tech up by 4.93%, DLF up by 4.00%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.09% and BPCL up by 3.06%.

On the flip side, Cipla down by 1.92%, ACC down by 1.81%, Ranbaxy Laboratories down by 1.47%, Reliance Infrastructure down by 1.47% and Bajaj Auto down by 1.18% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite declined 1.06%, Hang Seng dropped 0.07%, Straits Times contracted 0.38%, KOSPI Composite decreased 0.16%, Taiwan Weighted was down by 1.09%, KLSE Composite down 0.15% and Jakarta Composite lost 0.23%. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 gained 0.09% was the lone gainer amongst Asian pack.

The European markets were trading on a mixed note with; France’s CAC 40 added 0.18%, Germany’s DAX edged lower by 0.17% while the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 gained 0.09%.