Benchmarks continue to trade firm; Nifty holds 6200 mark

Indian equities continued its firm trade in green in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline counters. Investors were on optimistic mood after reports emerged that India’s manufacturing-sector activity in November expanded for the first time in four months as new orders rose, raising hopes for the country’s economy, which has been struggling with high inflation and weakening growth. Traders were seen piling position in Health Care, Capital Goods and Bankex stocks while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas sector stocks. In scrip specific development, JM Financial was trading in green on reports that Wipro’s chief Azim Premji may hike stake in the company by 5%. Amtek India was trading firm after net profit surged 86.9% to Rs 55.13 crore on 48.9% increase in net sales to Rs 558.25 crore in the quarter ended September 2013 over the quarter ended September 2012. ONGC was trading under pressure after the Gujarat High Court directed the company to pay dues worth over Rs 10,000 crore to the state government towards differences in royalty of crude it has extracted since 2008.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in green while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,200 and 20,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1372:889 while 150 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20897.98, up by 106.05 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 20941.00 and 20770.51. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 declining ones on the index.

The broader indices were too trading in green; the BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap indices were trading up by 0.85% and 1.15% respectively.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.80%, Capital Goods up by 1.36%, Bankex up by 1.13%, Metal up by 1.11% and Realty up by 0.69% while, Oil & Gas down by 0.07% was the sole loser on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Jindal Steel up by 4.50%, Sun Pharma up by 3.47%, ICICI Bank up by 2.06%, L&T up by 1.90% and Tata Steel up by 1.83%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever  down by 1.76%, Gail India down by 1.40%, ONGC down by 1.14%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.81% and Hindalco Industries down by 0.69%, were the major losers on the Sensex

Meanwhile, in order to boost the ailing Indian aviation sector and to make it more competitive on global front, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has demanded easing norms for airlines flying abroad, saying that the norm is acting as an impediment for the growth of Indian aviation sector.

The CCI has said that the minimum eligibility criteria for Indian carriers to launch international services should be removed and added that the present aviation five year/20 aircraft rule has become a major hurdle for the sector, under which Indian carrier needs to have a fleet of 20 aircraft to launch international operations and to complete five years of flying in the domestic space in order to launch international airlines services. On the contrary, this restriction does not apply to foreign airlines.

Further, CCI is of the view that once this rule is relaxed, the contest ability of the domestic aviation sector is likely to increase and will make the Indian aviation sector more competitive on global level.  On the other hand, the abolition of minimum eligibility for international flying is first on the agenda of civil aviation ministry. However, the policy change will require the Cabinet’s approval. The abolition of international flying norm, creation of an aviation force and making Air Navigation Services a separate company are the three proposals to be cleared by the union cabinet before the Lok Sabha general elections scheduled to be held in 2014.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,214.45, up by 38.35 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 6,228.70 and 6,171.15. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Ranbaxy up by 6.80%, Jindal Steel up by 4.44%, Sun Pharma up by 3.50%, HCL Tech up by 3.47% and IDFC up by 2.60%. On the flip side, HUL down by 2.03%, Gail India down by 1.60%, Power Grid down by 1.31%, ONGC down by 1.09% and Cairn India down by 0.90% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mostly in green; Straits Times was up by 0.23%, Jakarta Composite added 1.49%, Taiwan Weighted edged higher 0.09%, Hang Seng rose 0.66% and KLSE Composite gained 0.15%. On the other hand, Shanghai Composite plunged by 0.59%, Nikkei 225 inched lower by 0.04% and Seoul Composite slipped 0.69% were the losers amongst Asian pack.

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 was down 0.45%, Germany’s DAX lost 0.12% and UK’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.43%.