Benchmarks continue firm trade in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade firm in afternoon session led by gains in IT, Teck and realty stocks. Buying was also witnessed in frontline blue chip stocks including HDFC, SSLT and Infosys among others. Investors’ sentiments were got a boost after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) relaxed the coal tapering linkage policy for nine power projects with investments worth Rs 60,000 crore. Further, the government also approved modalities for the beleaguered sugar industry to avail interest-free loans to the tune of Rs 6,600 crore from banks for effecting timely payment to cane growers. Firm Asian cues also added to the optimistic sentiments. All spectral indices were trading in green except oil and gas. On stock specific, HDFC, SSLT and Infosys were trading up by over 1.30%, while, BHEL, Maruti Suzuki and RIL   were trading down by over 0.40% on BSE.

Among other stocks, Gitanjali Gems, extending its past three days' rally surged nearly 14% to around Rs 76.40, on back of heavy volumes on the BSE. Monsanto India has rallied over 14% to nearly Rs 852 on back of heavy volumes on reports that the Environment Minister Veerappa Moily is likely to approve genetically modified (GM) food crops in the country. Indraprastha Gas is trading higher by about 3% at around Rs 273 on reports that the company has increased prices of compressed natural gas (CNG) in Delhi by Rs 4.50 per kg and Rs 5.15 per kg in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad.

On global front, Asian markets were trading in green with Straits Times up by 0.53%, Jakarta Composite up by 0.37% on the back of powerful performance by Wall Street and strong Japanese economic data. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading up their psychological 6,300 and 21,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,186 stocks traded, 1,241 stocks advanced, while 833 stocks declined on the BSE.  

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 21,191.12 up by 116.53 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 21,217.12 and 21,113.25. There were 25 stocks advancing against only 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.54%, while Small cap index up by 0.33%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.70%, IT up by 1.16%, Teck up by 1.05%, Bankex up by 0.67% and FMCG up by 0.57%. While, Oil and gas down by 0.14%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 1.48%, SSLT up by 1.48%, Infosys up by 1.39%, TCS up by 1.30% and SBI up by 1.01%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 1.40%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.16%, RIL down by 0.49%, Hero Motocorp down by 0.12% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.02%.

Meanwhile, in order to speed up clearances of infrastructure projects at the state level, the environment ministry has eased the environmental clearance process for industry particularly at the state level. The move is likely to expedite the implementation of various infrastructure projects relating to mining of minor minerals, river sand mining, thermal power plants with less than 5MW capacity. As per the new guidelines, public hearings or environmental impact assessment would not be required for projects relating to brick earth and ordinary earth mining with lease areas between 5 and 25 hectares or for thermal power plants using coal, lignite, naphtha and gas, with generating capacity of 5 MW or less.

The environment ministry has also re-categorised projects like mineral beneficiation plants, small thermal power plants, cement plants, metallurgical industries, leather and hide processing industries. Presently, infrastructure projects that require clearances at the state level are referred to as 'category B' projects with two sub-categories such as B1 and B2. Sub-category B1 includes projects that require an environmental impact assessment and public consultation before clearance by the state authority or its counterpart in the Union Territories. On the other hand, Sub-category B2 projects would be assessed for clearance on the basis of an application and a pre-feasibility report.

The infrastructure development is the most critical prerequisite for sustaining the present growth momentum of the economy. Meanwhile in order to expedite the implementation of infra projects, the government has been taking various measures. Recently, it has set up Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) to accord fast track clearances to large projects. Untill now, the CCI had cleared 209 projects worth Rs 3.84 lakh crore. Meanwhile, for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), the government has set the $1-trillion investment target for the infrastructure sector.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,310.65 up by 31.75 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 6,319.35 and 6,289.40. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were DLF up by 2.46%, NMDC up by 1.84%, Kotak Bank up by 1.84%, PNB up by 1.52% and HDFC up by 1.36%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 1.60%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.36%, Asian Paints down by 0.75%, Reliance down by 0.46% and Power Grid down by 0.30% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in green; Hang Seng up by 0.30%, KLSE Composite up by 0.86%, Straits Times up by 0.53%, Jakarta Composite up by 0.37%, Nikkei 225 up by 0.02%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.58%, Seoul Composite up by 0.07% and Shanghai Composite up by 1.13%.