Markets soar to day’s high after Russia’s president orders troop to return to base

Sense of euphoria ran across all the emerging markets, including ours, after Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ordered troops that took part in military exercises in central and western Russia to return to their base, thereby rousing local benchmarks to day’s high point to trade past the crucial 21,100 (Sensex) and 6,250 (Nifty) levels respectively, with gains of close to a percent. Meanwhile, broader indices also swaying to the tune, gained more or less in-line with larger counterparts.

However, bourses’ gains could be tempered post European markets opening, with European stocks futures indicating a negative start of European markets. Meanwhile, Asian pacific shares mostly are languishing in red, barring Nikkei 225, Hang Seng and Straits Times indexes which gained close to half a percent.

Closer home, most of the sectoral indices on BSE were trading in green, barring Realty, Healthcare and Auto. Defensive pharmaceuticals stocks came off from high level after Russia’s President ordered troops to return their base, a move which was seen bolstering risk appetite. Meanwhile, Auto stocks were trading lower for second consecutive session after automobile manufacturers reported sluggish sales in February due to a slowing economy that is plagued by high fuel and interest costs. On the flip side, stocks from Metal, banking and Consumer Durable counters were the top gainers of the session. In stock-specific activities, shares from Sahara Group's, namely, Sahara Housingfina Corporation was trading lower for second consecutive session as head of Sahara conglomerate, Subrata Roy faces Supreme Court after spending the weekend in custody at a government nature-reserve guest house. The overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of advances which have thumped declines in the ratio of 1324:487; while 37 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 21139.57, up by 192.92 points or 0.92% after trading in a range of 21142.54 and 20940.39. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.92%, while Small cap index up by 0.80%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.05%, Bankex up by 1.61%, Consumer Durables up by 1.53%, PSU up by 1.14% and Capital Goods up by 1.12%. While, Realty down by 0.24%, Healthcare down by 0.18%, Auto down by 0.11% were the losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco Inds up by 4.45%, ICICI bank up by 3.01%, Gail India up by 2.78%, SSLT up by 2.70% and Axis Bank up by 2.52%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 0.62%, Sun Pharma down by 0.42% and Tata Motors down by 0.28% were the only losers amongst Sensex.

Meanwhile, the government has received Rs 18,267 crore upfront spectrum payments from telecom companies, which was about Rs.30 crore less than the bids received from seven companies in the spectrum auction last month owing to the unavailability of radio-waves in some parts of the service areas. However, the amount received was about 61 percent higher than the government’s set target of about Rs 11,333 crore for the current fiscal. The government received bids worth Rs 62,162 crore in the auction for 1800 Mhz and 900 Mhz bands in last month.

The seven winning telecom firms of recently held spectrum auction have to pay 33 per cent upfront for the 1800 Mhz bank and 25 per cent for the 900 Mhz band, while, rest of the amount is to be paid in yearly instalments after two years with about 10 per cent interest. Vodafone, the biggest winner of spectrum, had to make an upfront payment of about Rs 5,582 crore; Airtel Rs 5,425 crore; Idea Rs.3,240 crore; Reliance Jio Rs.3,648; Telewings (Uninor) Rs.290 crore; Aircel Rs.69 crore and RCom Rs.54 crore.

The high spectrum payment will help the government to contain the widening fiscal deficit, which has crossed the FY 14 set target of Rs 5.33 lakh crore or 4.8 percent of GDP in the first ten months of the 2013/14 financial year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,274.85, up by 53.40 points or 0.86% after trading in a range of 6,277.40 and 6,215.70. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Hindalco Inds up by 4.40%, IDFC up by 3.31%, ICICI Bank up by 3.04%, SSLT and Gail India were up by 2.75%. On the flip side, JP Associates down by 1.48%, DLF down by 1.15%, HCL Technologies down by 0.97%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.59% and Sun Pharma down by 0.59% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading on a negative note; Shanghai Composite declined by 0.29%, Seoul Composite slipped 0.54%, Jakarta Composite inched lower by 0.01%, KLSE Composite dropped 0.20% and Taiwan Weighted shed 0.55%.On the flip side, Nikkei 225 gained 0.47%, Hang Seng advanced 0.63%, Straits Times added 0.63%.