Markets trade in fine fettle amid firm global cues

Buoyed by firm global cues, Indian equity benchmarks have made a gap-up opening and are trading with a gain of around half a percent. Overnight, the US markets ended higher on the back of good economic data and some encouraging earnings announcements. Asian markets too were trading higher at this point of time, as sentiments remained up-beat after Turkey amazed investors with a huge hike in interest rates, stirring hopes the drastic action would short-circuit a vicious cycle of selling in emerging markets and revive risk appetite generally.

Back home, there was broad based buying witnessed in the markets in early deals and apart from the blue chips, the broader markets too were equally participating in the rally. Both the benchmarks scaled past the psychological levels of 20,750 (Sensex) and 6,150 (Nifty). Recovery in Indian rupee too was supporting the sentiments. The partially convertible rupee was trading at 62.19 per dollar as against the yesterday’s close of 62.50 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange. Some support also came in from the Reserve Bank of India’s survey that indicated the business confidence in the economy is still weak but is on track.

Stocks related to infra sector edged higher in early deals, as the road ministry is set to modify its exit policy and make it easier for new investors to enter and replace existing ones. On the sectoral front, software witnessed the maximum gains in trade followed by technology and healthcare, while banking, realty and capital goods remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were struggling to get some traction, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 455 shares on the gaining side against 756 shares on the losing side while 55 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 20784.04; about 100 points higher compared to its previous closing of 20683.51, and touched a high and a low of 20828.68 and 20761.10 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 20784.59, up by 101.08 points or 0.49%. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 67.52% stocks advancing against 28.22% declines. The broader indices too were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index up was by 0.76% and Small cap gained 0.65%. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Healthcare up by 1.48%, Realty up by 1.34%, Auto up by 1.27%, Capital Goods up by 0.96% and Power up by 0.78%, while Metal down by 0.90% was the only losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 6.39%, Sun Pharma up by 2.90%, BHEL up by 2.22%, Axis Bank up by 1.60% and Dr Reddys Lab up by 1.28%. On the flip side, Gail India was down by 0.81%, Hindalco was down by 0.79%, Tata Steel was down by 0.74%, SBI was down by 0.95% and Infosys was down by 0.14% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the ministry of Road Transport and Highways has asked the Planning Commission to clarify its contradictory stand on highway sector’s regulator. Presently, Planning Commission is working on draft for setting up regulators in all public utility sectors that will directly accountable to Parliament. Road ministry is confused over the Planning Commission present position as it is opposing a proposed highways regulator on one side, while pushing for regulatory reforms covering sectors including highways on the other side. The highway ministry stated that it would respond to a request seeking comments on the regulatory reform draft only after the ‘contradiction’ is resolved.

The Planning Commission proposed rules are likely to be applicable to regulators in various sectors including telecom, power, airports and highways. Regarding the highways ministry's draft note, the commission emphasized that it doesn't expect the proposed regulator to serve much useful purpose for the sector. Over the past 12 months, the commission had also raised objections to several key policy measures proposed by the ministry to revive the highways sectors. These measures include increasing the defect-liability period of builders aimed at ensuring better quality of roads, deferral of premium payment by highway developers and allowing concessionaires to divest full equity in highway projects.

In the central budget for 2013-14, the government has proposed to set up a regulator for the highways sector. It has noted that the sector has been facing issues like financial stress, enhanced construction risk and contract management which can be better addressed by an independent authority. In the current fiscal, NHAI has managed to give just 479 km of road projects against its target of 3,000 km by September. In the previous financial year, only 1,116 km of projects were awarded against a target of 9,500 km.

The CNX Nifty opened at 6,161.00; about 34 point higher as compared to its previous closing of 6,126.25, and has touched a high and a low of 6,170.45 and 6,151.60 respectively. The index is currently trading at 6,156.60, up by 30.35 points or 0.50%. There were 37 stocks advancing against 12 declines and one stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 5.68%, Sun Pharma up by 2.98%, BHEL up by 2.22%, JP Associate up by 2.20% and DLF up by 1.73%. On the flip side, GAIL down by 1.06%, UltraTech Cement down by 0.99%, Tata Steel down by 0.89%, SBI down by 0.80% and Hindalco down by 0.79% were the top losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite rose 6.41 points or 0.31% to 2,044.93, Hang Seng strengthened 230.56 points or 1.05% to 22,191.20, Jakarta Composite increased 70.87 points or 1.63% to 4,412.52, KLSE Composite added 12.11 points or 0.68% to 1,793.36, Nikkei 225 surged 310.83 points or 2.07% to 15,290.99 and Seoul Composite was up by 23.09 points or 1.20% to 1,940.02.

On the flip side, Straits Times declined 22.10 points or 0.72% to 3,040.31.

Taiwan Weighted remained closed for the trade today.