Benchmarks sustain early gains; oscillate in narrow range waiting for fresh cues

Benchmark equity indices, sustaining early gains are oscillating in narrow range awaiting fresh cues from European markets, which are expected to open in next hour or so. Led by the gains in banking sector, local equity markets are trading jubilant since early deals. Nevertheless, rally at Dalal Street, besides being secular is also broad-based. Although stuck in tight range, Sensex and Nifty are comfortably cruising past 20,700 and 6,150 levels respectively with gains of over one and half percent. Meanwhile, broader indices also sustaining early rally are up and about with gains of close to a percent.

On the global front, Asian share markets crept cautiously higher on Monday, encouraged both by the prospect of extended stimulus in the United States and real economic reform in China. Late on Friday, China unveiled bold reform plans from its Third Plenum, including easing the one-child policy, implementing residence registration reforms, allowing market pricing of key resources and further financial liberalization.

Closer home, further uptick of local equities were also capped on account of prevailing caution ahead of Rs 8000 crore bond-buyback from RBI later in the day. Nevertheless, strong gains of index heavyweight, ITC, Reliance Industries, L&T, ICICI Bank and HDFC bank got the momentum alive. Meanwhile, on the sectoral front, besides banking, Capital Goods and Fast Moving Consumer Goods pivotal too witnessed substantial buying interest. The overall market breadth on BSE continues to remain positive, with 1328 trading on the positive side against 903 declining ones on the index, while 98 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20738.57, up by 339.15 points or 1.66% after trading in a range of 20757.21 and 20570.59. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 declining stocks on the index.

The broader indices continue to hold their early gains; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.96%, while Small cap index gained 0.80%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.28%, Capital Goods up by 2.18%, FMCG up by 1.97%, Oil and Gas up by 1.75% and IT up by 1.39%. There were no losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.90%, L&T up by 2.83%, ITC up by 2.80%, ONGC up by 2.46% and HDFC Bank up by 2.37%. On the flip side, SSLT down by 0.81%, Tata Power down by 0.76%, Gail India down by 0.48%, Coal India down by 0.38% and Cipla down by 0.37%. were the major losers on the Sensex

Meanwhile, in a move to improve the quality of information to shareholders by removing large-scale discrepancies found in the mandatory financial and other corporate disclosures made by listed companies, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is likely to issue guidelines soon on corporate disclosure requirements, which require timely disclosure of corporate governance reports such as shareholding data and other financial information.

A majority of the firms have been found to be non- compliant on multiple fronts with around 1,150 listed companies found to be violating model regulations for disclosing key details such as quarterly and annual financial results, while over 1,000 companies failed to comply with disclosure rules related to shareholding pattern.

Meanwhile, in a move to improve the quality of information to shareholders by removing large-scale discrepancies found in the mandatory financial and other corporate disclosures made by listed companies, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is likely to issue guidelines soon on corporate disclosure requirements, which require timely disclosure of corporate governance reports such as shareholding data and other financial information.

A majority of the firms have been found to be non- compliant on multiple fronts with around 1,150 listed companies found to be violating model regulations for disclosing key details such as quarterly and annual financial results, while over 1,000 companies failed to comply with disclosure rules related to shareholding pattern.

Meanwhile, SEBI is taking a lot of measures to develop Indian financial markets. SEBI is planning to issue new set of guidelines soon to amend the present stock exchange listing agreement, following the recent changes made to the Companies Act. It will also soon notify new regulations for listing of start-ups and small and medium enterprises (SME) on stock exchanges without making an initial public offer (IPO) to develop fund-raising capabilities of such companies by providing better visibility, wider investor base and easier exit options for entities such as Angel Investors, Venture Capital Funds and Private Equities. Furthermore, the market regulator has also relaxed the norms for primary issuance of debt securities by companies. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,150.65, up by 94.50 points or 1.56% after trading in a range of 6,157.80 and 6,110.40. There were 39 stocks advancing against 10 declining on the index, while 1 share remained unchanged.

The top gainers of the Nifty were L&T up by 2.98%, ITC up by 2.85%, ICICI Bank up by 2.70%, Ranbaxy up by 2.49% and ONGC up by 2.48%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 0.81%, SSLT down by 0.76%, Tata Power down by 0.64%, Coal India down by 0.55% and Gail India down by 0.45% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite up by 2.72%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.18%, Seoul Composite up by 0.26%, KLSE Composite up by 0.20%, Straits Times up by 0.27%, Hang Seng up by 2.48%, and Jakarta Composite up by 1.39%. While, Nikkei 225 down by 0.01% was the lone loser.