Benchmarks continue to trade firm in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade firm in afternoon session on the back of buying witnessed in front line blue-chip stocks and tracking firm global cues amid easing tension in Ukraine over the situation in Crimea, even as region voted in favor of quitting Ukraine. Though, major indices were following a tight range but there was no sign of any profit booking since morning. Sentiments also remained jubilant on report that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 982.19 crore on Friday. Banking share were trading up by around 1.48% on the bourses after WPI inflation moderated for the third straight month, raising hopes that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) can cut interest rates in its next monetary policy. Investors were seen piling up position in oil and gas and power stocks. On the other hand, IT and teck stocks were under pressure as domestic currency appreciated against the dollar.

AstraZeneca Pharma India, extending its Friday’s 9% rally, was trading higher by 4% to around Rs 1,208, after its board approved the delisting proposal received from the Sweden based parent AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals AB. Maruti Suzuki was trading 7.8% higher at around Rs 1873 after the compnany agreed to seek the approval of minority shareholders for its plan to house the proposed Gujarat factory in a fully owned Suzuki subsidiary.

On global front, most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green with Nikkei 225 up by 1.05% and Hang Seng up by 0.44%. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,500 and 21,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,380 stocks traded, 1378 stocks advanced, while 857 stocks declined on the BSE.  

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 21,981.91 up by 172.11 points or 0.79% after trading in a range of 22,040.72 and 21,849.65. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.15%, while Small cap index up by 0.84%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil and Gas up by 2.19%, Power up by 1.75%, Bankex up by 1.48%, FMCG up by 1.34% and Metal up by 1.11%. While, IT down by 0.24%  and Teck down by 0.03% were the losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 7.99%, SBI up by 2.69%, Coal India up by 2.46%, Tata Power up by 2.35% and RIL up by 2.34%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 0.98%, HDFC down by 0.78%, Hero Motocorp down by 0.76%, TCS down by 0.56% and L&T down by 0.45%.

Meanwhile, India’s power deficit for the month of February stood at 4,424 MW or 3.3 percent of the demand. The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) reported that country’s total peak power demand was 1,32,507 MW last month, of which 1,28,083 MW was met, leaving a peak power deficit at 4,424 MW.

Region wise, southern India was the most affected, registering a deficit of 5.2 percent or 1,883 MW. Total electricity demand of the southern region comprising states Karnataka, Kerala,   Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, was 36,427 MW as against a supply of 34,544 MW. The electricity requirement in eastern states was 14,976 MW of which 14,499 MW was met, leaving the region with a shortage of 477 MW or 1.3 percent. The western region including states Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Goa, reported a power shortage of 2.1 percent as the demand of region was 41,184 MW against a supply of 40,331 MW. The demand in the country’s northern region was 37,895 MW, of which 36,780 MW was met, registering a power deficit of 1115 MW or 2.9 percent. While, the north-eastern region registered a deficit of 96 MW.

In India, electricity is produced with the help of coal, crude oil, water and natural gas. Acute coal shortages in the country has become primary reason for power deficit in the country as coal-fired plants account for 68% of India's installed electricity capacity. Presently, the Coal India (CIL) is the only producer of domestic coal accounting for around 80 percent of the domestic production. CIL is currently struggling to meet domestic coal requirement and has recently noted that its production target of 475 million tonne (MT) coal for the current fiscal will remain unachievable amid concerns like shutdown of mining activities in Talcher Coalfields in Odisha. India’s gas based installed capacity stands at nearly 8 percent at 20,000 MW of which around 6,000 MW is currently stranded because of unavailability of natural gas.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,557.55 down by 53.35 points or 0.82% after trading in a range of 6,574.95 and 6,531.90. There were only 41 stocks advancing against 9 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 7.85%, Indusind Bank up by 3.18%, SBI up by 2.62%, Coal India up by 2.52% and Reliance up by 2.43%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.26%, HDFC down by 0.81%, Hero Motocorp down by 0.72%, TCS down by 0.50% and L&T down by 0.43% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Nikkei 225 up by 1.05% to 14,427.41, Hang Seng up by 0.44% to 21,567.90, Shanghai Composite up by 0.20% to 2,027.91 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.37% to 8,731.63. On the flip side, Straits Times was down by 0.18% to 3,088.35 and Jakarta Composite down by 0.91% to 4,831.71