Indian equities add gains; Nifty above 5,600 mark

Indian equity markets added gains to continue firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline counters and taking cues from European counterparts. The sentiments were on optimistic mood despite report showing that India’s economic growth to remain subdued this year and any recovery will be gradual as government spending and interest rate cuts from the central bank revive domestic demand. The economists polled for the latest quarterly survey lowered their growth forecast for Asia’s third largest economy for the eighth consecutive time. Traders were seen piling some position in Realty, IT and Bankex sector stocks while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, Power and Metal sector stock. In scrip specific development, Bharti Airtel was trading under pressure after the telecom major was restrained by the Supreme Court from providing 3G roaming services to new customers in seven circles where it does not have license to do so. Jet Airways was trading in red following concerns that its stake-sale deal with Abu Dhabi-based carrier Etihad may be delayed. Everonn Education dropped after rating agency CARE downgraded the company’s credit rating to default. The rating agency stated that the company has been unable to pay interest on Rs 810 crore worth of loans to banks.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in green barring Shanghai Composite while the European markets were too trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,600 and 18,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1111:1005 while 121 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,542.17, up by 127.72 points or 0.69% after trading in a range of 18,595.12 and 18,397.94. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were trading up by 0.10% and 0.64% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 1.85%, IT up by 1.85%, Bankex up by 1.56%, Capital Goods up by 1.29% and TECK up by 1.23% while, Oil & Gas down by 0.67%, Power down by 0.60%, Metal down by 0.51% and PSU down 0.12% were the top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 4.33%, ICICI Bank up by 3.92%, Infosys up by 3.37%, L&T up by 2.50% and Cipla up by 1.70%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel was down by 2.36%, HDFC was down by 1.81%, NTPC was down by 1.37%, Tata Steel was down by 1.18% and Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 1.18% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, favouring lower reserve price, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said, the benchmark prices for spectrum auction are unrealistic as the previous two attempts to sell airwaves were unsuccessful. While addressing an event, Ahluwalia said we can arbitrarily lower the reserve price or we can refer the matter back to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and it would be better to get the recommendation from TRAI.

In the previous two rounds of spectrum auction, the government was able to sell airwaves only for around Rs 13,000 crore. Now, the government has planned for third round of spectrum auction and may put on block 2G GSM airwaves in Delhi and Mumbai circles and CDMA spectrum in 13 circles that remained unsold in the previous sale held in March’13.

Earlier, the government had said that it would conduct the third round of auction putting on block all 2G spectrum freed from cancellation of 122 licences, after the Supreme Court in February this year ordered the DoT to auction entire spectrum freed. Further, as per DoT's plan for the third round of auction, pan-India 2G spectrum in 1800 Mhz frequency band will be put for auction. However, it is yet to decide on the quantum of CDMA spectrum that would be auctioned in 13 circles.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,600.25, up by 41.55 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 5,610.60 and 5,542.85. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index. 

The top gainers of the Nifty were DLF up by 4.91%, ICICI Bank up by 3.84%, Tata Motors up by 3.79%, Infosys up by 3.31% and HCL Tech up by 3.15%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.56%, HDFC down by 2.26%, Grasim down by 1.86%, NTPC down by 1.68% and Tata Steel was down 1.36% were the major losers on the index.

Most Asian equity indices were trading in green; Hang Seng surged 0.30%, Jakarta Composite increased 0.66%, KLSE Composite jumped 0.65%, Nikkei 225 soared 1.96%, Straits Times strengthened 0.49%, KOSPI Composite added 0.73% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 1.36%, while Shanghai Composite down by 0.30% was the lone loser.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 added 0.50%, Germany’s DAX jumped 0.22% and United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 edged higher by 0.15%.