Benchmarks trade slightly higher in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks, extending their previous session’s rally, made a positive opening and are trading slightly in the green in early deals on Thursday as some support came in from Finance minister P Chidambaram expressing confidence of India getting on the high growth path in the next three years and attributing the decline in growth rate to global factors. Sentiments remained strong after the World Bank in its latest report highlighted that India’s economy is expected to grow by 6.2% in 2014 and 7.1 percent by 2016-17 as global demand recovers and domestic investment increases. However, up-side remained capped as investors opted for wait and watch approach ahead of TCS’ third quarter earnings scheduled to be announced later today.

On the global front, the US markets extended their rally mood overnight with S&P 500 surging to a new record high on the back of some upbeat earnings news from financial giant Bank of America. Moreover, most of the Asian equity benchmarks were trading in the green at this point of time after core machine orders in Japan jumped a seasonally adjusted 9.3 percent on month in November to 882.6 billion yen. The headline figure shattered forecasts for an increase of 1.1 percent following the 0.6 percent gain in October.

Back home, on the sectoral front, metals witnessed the maximum gains in trade followed by capital goods and power, while FMCG, auto and technology goods remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were trading in the green in early deals, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 860 shares on the gaining side against 651 shares on the losing side while 74 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 21366.91; about 77 points higher compared to its previous closing of 21289.49, and touched a high and a low of 21379.29 and 21296.13 respectively. The index is currently trading at 21306.56, up by 17.07 points or 0.08%. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 54.26% stocks advancing against 41.07% declines. The broader indices too were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index up was by 0.25% and Small cap gained 0.24%. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Metal up by 1.31%, Capital Goods up by 0.72%, Power up by 0.56%, Consumer Durables up by 0.31% and PSU up by 0.29%, while FMCG down by 0.35%, Auto down by 0.25%, Teck down by 0.22%, Healthcare down by 0.05% and Realty down by 0.04% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.11%, BHEL up by 1.59%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.35%, SSLT up by 1.32% and NTPC up by 1.25%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel was down by 3.94%, Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 1.27%, ONGC was down by 0.79%, Tata Motors was down by 0.78% and Cipla was down by 0.61% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, In order to bring comprehensive policy for inspection, verification and monitoring in the forest clearance procedure, the Environment Ministry has kicked off a fast-track review of the cumbersome procedures involving green clearances that often take years. Now, the ministry has sought for India Inc's views on its revised draft policy to grant of forest clearance. Presently, the forest clearance procedures are considered by industry as the single-biggest drag on India's investment momentum and stalling projects.

The ministry has proposed several changes in draft such as third party monitoring by accredited institutions and forest administration, self-monitoring by project developers and a structure for a transparent, effective and unbiased system to deal with violations of clearance conditions.

Meanwhile, the government is hopeful of putting in place a simplified forest clearance system before its term ends in a few months. The new environment and forest minister Veerappa Moily has approved several long-stalled investments during the past three weeks in order to ensure more predictability for prospective investors. Furthermore, the Cabinet panel headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has recently cleared investment projects of over Rs 6 lakh crore. Now the cabinet panel is shifting its focus to its other key area including a review of ministries' procedures to grant and refuse projects’ approvals and setting a framework for accelerating these decisions to boost the investment and economic growth.

The CNX Nifty opened at 6,341.35; about 11 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 6,320.90, and has touched a high and a low of 6,346.50 and 6,325.60 respectively. The index is currently trading at 6,329.45, up by 8.55 points or 0.14%. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HCL Tech up by 2.60%, Tata Steel up by 2.28%, Jindal Steel up by 1.79%, BHEL up by 1.77% and ACC up by 1.52%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 3.60%, M&M down by 1.40%, Tata Motors down by 1.03%, ONGC down by 0.89% and ITC down by 0.81% were the top losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite rose 0.85 points or 0.04% to 2,024.20, Hang Seng increased 67.46 points or 0.29% to 22,969.46, Nikkei 225 strengthened 22.17 points or 0.14% to 15,830.90, Seoul Composite added 5.19 points or 0.27% to 1,958.47 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 31.67 points or 0.37% to 8,634.22.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite dipped 2.18 points or 0.05% to 4,439.42, KLSE Composite declined 9.40 points or 0.52% to 1,814.63 and Straits Times was down by 1.32 points or 0.04% to 3,141.93.