Benchmarks trade in fine fettle in early deals

Extending its previous session’s rally, Indian equity benchmarks were trading in a fine fettle in Friday’s morning deals supported by firm global cues. Overnight, the US markets managed a green close helped by easing concerns on Syria as well as on some upbeat economic data. US GDP increased by 2.5 percent in the second quarter, while the weekly jobless claims dropped. Moreover, most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green but gains remained capped with investors remaining cautious with looming fed tapering decision.

Back home, after the passage of the Food Security Bill, the Lok Sabha on August 29 gave its nod to adopt the Land Acquisition Bill. The passage has brought some cheer to select listed real estate companies that are already sitting on huge parcels of land. Scrips like Anant Raj, Ansal Housing, Nitish Estates, Ansal Properties, Indiabulls Real Estate, HDIL, Unitech and DLF all edged higher. Meanwhile, traders will also be eyeing the first quarter GDP numbers to be announced after the market hours. There is wide consensus that GDP will grow 4.7-4.8% in June quarter, showing India's economy slowing to dangerously low levels.

On the sectoral front, software witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by realty and technology, while power, oil and gas and auto remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were trading in-line with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 732 shares on the gaining side against 368 shares on the losing side while 44 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 18424.72; about 23 points higher compared to its previous closing of 18401.04, and has touched a high and a low of 18487.06 and 18283.74 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 18481.78, up by 80.74 points or 0.44%. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 64.79% stocks advancing against 31.43% declines. The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were up by 0.49% and 0.48% respectively. 

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 1.48%, Realty up by 1.45%, Teck up by 1.36%, Consumer Durables up by 1.06% and Bankex up by 1.05%, while Power down by 1.04%, Oil & Gas down by 0.18% and Auto down by 0.13% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.84%, Sun Pharma up by 2.61%, TCS up by 2.46%, Wipro up by 2.23% and HDFC Bank up by 2.14%. On the flip side, Sesa Goa was down by 2.88%, Tata Power  was down by 1.88%, NTPC was down by 1.87%, Maruti Suzuki was down by 1.38% and Coal India was down by 1.37% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in order to determine the mandate for the use of excess coal from captive mines, the Coal Ministry is working on a policy for using the surplus coal that has been delayed for the past two years. Coal ministry is of the view that excess coal should be given to Coal India or its subsidiary at a notified price and has started a fresh round of discussions with ministries including Power and Steel in order to format policy for the use of excess coal from captive mines.

After that, it will take draft to the Cabinet for its consideration. As per the Coal Mines Act 1973, that oversees captive mining, all coal mined from the block must be used entirely for the respective end-use project. Earlier, when the policy was floated, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) expressed concerns and directed the nodal Ministry to put it on hold. The Law ministry also raised objections over diversion of excess coal from mines attached to Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPP).

Meanwhile, several private firms had approached the government for using excess coal for other projects. Reliance Power had received the Government’s approval to use excess coal from attached mines in Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project (UMMP) to another project.

The CNX Nifty opened at 5,407.45; about 1 point lower as compared to its previous closing of 5,409.05, and has touched a high and a low of 5,428.75 and 5,367.35 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,426.00, up by 16.95 points or 0.31%. There were 26 stocks advancing against 22 declines, while two stocks remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were IDFC up by 3.59%, Bank of Baroda up by 3.16%, Tata Steel up by 2.71%, TCS up by 2.66% and Sun Pharmaceuticals up by 2.17%. On the flip side, Sesa Goa down by 2.99%, Power Grid down by 2.98%, Kotak Bank down by 2.70%, Ambuja Cements down by 2.34% and Grasim down by 2.33% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Jakarta Composite surged 53.56 points or 1.31% to 4,157.15, KLSE Composite strengthened 15.44 points or 0.91% to 1,719.22, Straits Times rose 2.34 points or 0.08% to 3,040.37, Seoul Composite increased 10.69 points or 0.56% to 1,918.23 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 52.37 points or 0.66% to 7,970.03.

On the flip side, Hang Seng declined 13.68 points or 0.06% to 21,691.10 and Nikkei 225 was down by 37.86 points or 0.28% to 13,421.85.