Indian equity add gains; Nifty holds 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 front line blue chip counters. The sentiments on the street were on upbeat mood despite Jim Walker of Asianomics warned that India’s economic problems could persist in the short term and the risk of the country’s rating being downgraded was still high. The week before last global rating agency Standard & Poor’s declined to upgrade its outlook on India from negative, sparking protests from the Finance Ministry. Traders were seen piling position in Consumer Durables (CD), Oil & Gas and Health Care stocks while selling was witnessed in Auto and Capital Goods sector stocks. In the scrip specific development, Britannia Industries was trading firm following a 66% jump in profits, the company had reported its March quarter earnings post market hours on Friday.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading on a mixed note while the European markets were trading in green.  Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,000 and 19,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1136:996, while 150 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,883.59, up by 179.26 points or 0.91% after trading in a range of 19,891.35 and 19,678.31. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 declines on the index.

The broader indices were too trading in green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were trading up by 0.72% and 0.49% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Consumer Durables up by 2.03%, Oil & Gas up by 1.89%, Health Care up by 1.17%, TECK up by 1.13% and Metal up by 0.86%, while Auto down 0.62% and Capital Goods down by 0.04% were the only losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were RIL up by 4.28%, Sun Pharma up by 3.96%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.51%, TCS up by 1.69% and HDFC up by 1.64%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.25%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.78%, Cipla was down by 1.53%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.42% and ONGC down by 0.69% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, to restart the development of major road projects, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has sought Prime Minister's Office (PMO) help to recover projects abandoned by the developers and starting those projects that have found no takers till now. NHAI has been seeking relaxations in highway contracts to create liquidity for cash-starved infrastructure developers who have been unable to find investors due to regulatory bottlenecks and stuck with high-cost debt, making projects unviable.

It has also demanded for restructuring of premium payment commitments made by private developers to prevent a stalemate in the highways sector where more projects are abandoned and new ones find no takers. Meanwhile, the government has deferred a much-awaited decision to resuscitate stalled highway projects by allowing an easier exit option for road developers.     

Thought the Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) was expected to discuss the issue on May 23 meeting, some ministers in the 19-member panel are learnt to have voiced concerns about making such post-facto changes in highway contracts. The CCI has directed ministries to accelerate action on such unresolved issues. Accordingly, the road ministry, finance ministry and the Planning Commission will discuss a mutually agreeable solution.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,030.00, up by 46.45 points or 0.78% after trading in a range of 6,034.45 and 5,975.55. There were 28 stocks advancing against 21 declines while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were IndusInd Bank up by 5.38%, Reliance Industries up by 4.50%, Sun Pharmaceuticals up by 4.13%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.69% and HDFC up by 1.82%. On the flip side, M&M down by 2.33%, Lupin down by 2.23%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.21%, Cipla down by 1.75% and BPCL down by 1.48% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading on a mixed note; Shanghai Composite rose 0.20%, Hang Seng increased 0.30%, KOSPI Composite surged 0.33% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.86%.

On the flip side, Straits Times lost 0.19%,  Jakarta Composite declined 1.35%, KLSE Composite slipped 0.26% and Nikkei 225 was down by 3.22%.

The European markets were trading on a mixed note; France’s CAC 40 was up 0.91%, Germany’s DAX added 0.63% and UK market remain shut for trade today for ‘Spring Bank Holiday'.