Indian markets trade slightly higher in early deals; Nifty surpasses 6,200 mark

Indian equity benchmarks are trading slightly higher in early deals on Monday with frontline gauges recapturing their crucial 6,200 (Nifty) and 20,850 (Sensex) levels after Indian economy grew at a higher-than expected 4.8 percent in the September quarter, on the back of improvement in farm and construction sector output. Sentiments also remained up-beat on report that foreign investors, continuing their buying spree for the third straight month invested net Rs 8,000 crore in Indian stocks in November.

However, global cues remained choppy with the US markets closing mostly lower in last session, while Asian equity benchmarks exhibiting mixed trade at this point of time, as investors were cautiously awaiting key US data this week. Though, some support came in from decent reading on China manufacturing. The nation’s factory activity maintained steady growth momentum in November, boosted by resilient new orders, though the pace of expansion eased slightly from October.

Back home, rally in sugar stocks like Balrampur Chini, Shree Renuka Sugar, Rana sugar etc too supported the sentiments, as the price deadlock was resolved and millers in Uttar Pradesh agreed to pay Rs 280 per quintal of sugarcane, they will pay Rs 260 per quintal in 15 days and another Rs 20 by the end of the crushing season. On the sectoral front, capital goods witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by healthcare and banking, while oil and gas and public sector undertaking remained the only losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were outperforming benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 883 shares on the gaining side against 335 shares on the losing side while 45 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 20771.27; about 20 points lower compared to its previous closing of 20791.93, and touched a high and a low of 20888.80 and 20770.51 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 20858.58, up by 66.65 points or 0.32%. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 69.91% stocks advancing against 26.52% declines. The broader indices too were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index up was by 0.79% and Small cap gained 0.81%. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Capital Goods up by 1.20%, Bankex up by 1.19%, Healthcare up by 1.17%, Realty up by 0.88% and Power up by 0.47%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.32%, PSU down by 0.13% and IT down by 0.01% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.48%, BHEL up by 2.11%, Sun Pharma up by 1.56%, Jindal Steel up by 1.42% and L&T up by 1.40%. On the flip side, ONGC was down by 2.85%, Gail India was down by 1.26%, Hindustan Unilever was down by 1.16%, Tata Steel was down by 0.92% and Wipro was down by 0.68% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved amendments in financial restructuring scheme of State power distribution companies in Jharkhand, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, which are facing financial difficulties. Meanwhile, the scheme is already implemented in various states include Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

Power utilities of Bihar, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh were interested to participate in the scheme, but could not do so because of their unavailability in meeting certain requirements of the restructuring scheme. Meanwhile, in order to enable these three states power companies to participate in the scheme for issuance of bonds/reschedulement by lenders, the government has extended the cut-off date for reckoning the eligible amount of short-term liabilities to March 31, 2013 from March 31, 2012. The scheme will be available to these states up to 31 December 2013.

Earlier, in September, the power ministry has also moved a draft note to CCEA with a proposal of about Rs 11,000 crore payout to subsidise costlier power. India’s total installed power generation capacity is 225,793 MW, of which 18,714 MW or nearly 8 percent, is gas-based. Under the new approved pricing formula, the gas prices will increase to $8.40 per million British thermal unit from the current price at $ 4.20 per mbtu, leading to cost of electricity generation of Rs 10.47 per unit. The power ministry has argued that consumers cannot absorb such a high cost of electricity and so the government should subsidise any cost over and above Rs 5.50 per unit to power utilities.

The CNX Nifty opened at 6,171.15; about 4 points lower as compared to its previous closing of 6,176.10, and has touched a high and a low of 6,208.50 and 6,171.15 respectively.The index is currently trading at 6,202.05, up by 25.95 points or 0.42%. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Ranbaxy up by 5.23%, ICICI Bank up by 2.45%, IDFC up by 2.31%, PNB up by 2.03% and BHEL up by 1.92%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 3.04%, Power Grid down by 2.16%, Gail down by 1.39%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.37% and Tata Steel down by 0.79% were the top losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite declined 36.62 points or 1.65% to 2,183.88, Nikkei 225 shed 35.04 points or 0.22% to 15,626.83, Seoul Composite contracted 8.72 points or 0.43% to 2,036.15 and Straits Times was down by 0.29 points or 0.01% to 3,176.06.

On the flip side, Hang Seng rose 26.61 points or 0.11% to 23,907.90, Jakarta Composite surged 28.79 points or 0.68% to 4,285.23, KLSE Composite added 2.19 points or 0.12% to 1,814.91 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 4.00 points or 0.05% to 8,410.83.