Indian equity add gains to trade in green

Indian equity markets added gains to trade firm above neutral line in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline counters. Investors have started eyeing the budget session of Parliament that will begin on February 21 with President Pranab Mukherjee’s first address to the joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha which will further provide the direction for the market. Traders were seen piling some position in Oil & Gas, Realty and IT sector while selling was witnessed in CD, FMCG and Metal sector. In the scrip specific development, Kingfisher Airlines was locked at upper circuit limit after the cash-strapped carrier started paying salaries to some of its employees. Ranbaxy Laboratories was trading in green after Credit Suisse upgraded the company to neutral from underperform. Jaiprakash Power Ventures was trading in red after the company launched its qualified institutional placement (QIP) issue of Rs 3,500 crore yesterday at a discount to the current market price. 

On the global front, all the Asian markets were trading in green barring KLSE Composite while the European markets were trading on a mixed note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,900 and 19,600 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1427:1241 while 133 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,643.23, up by 7.51 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 19,742.42 and 19,619.89. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a mixed note; BSE Midcap was down 0.01% and Small cap Index was trading up by 0.43%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Oil & Gas up by 1.54%, Realty up by 0.91%, IT up by 0.42% and TECk up by 0.30%. While, Consumer Durables (CD) down by 1.06%, FMCG down by 0.48%, Metal down by 0.38%, Capital Goods (CG) down by 0.31% and Auto down by 0.30% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were RIL up by 2.95%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.22%, Coal India up by 0.96%, GAIL India up by 0.82% and TCS up by 0.73%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.40%, Jindal Steel down by 1.29%, Cipla down by 1.03%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.88% and Sterlite Industries down by 0.88% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, to encourage greater private participation in investment of infrastructure sector, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has called for more innovative financing solutions for sector. For 12th five year plan (2012-2017), investments in the infrastructure sector has been pegged at around $1 trillion and the share of private participation in the total investment in infrastructure is projected at 47%.

During the launch of India Infra Debt, India's first infrastructure debt fund under a non-banking finance company structure, finance minister said 'to mobilize the resources of this tune many more institutions are required to share this responsibility. Promoters of Infra Debt should provide sound management to make these projects successful'. The $2-billion fund, India Infra Debt is promoted by Bank of Baroda, Citibank, ICICI Bank and LIC and will finance its first project by the end of the current fiscal.

Infra Debt has identified infrastructure projects, which have completed minimum one year of operation, whereas the government has already set up a cabinet committee with PM as its head for infrastructure investments to expedite approval and clearances of projects.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,945.15, up by 5.45 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 5,971.00 and 5,938.00. There were 21 stocks advancing against 28 declines while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were DLF up by 3.76%, Reliance Industries up by 2.99%, BPCL up by 2.74%, HCL Technologies up by 1.93% and Ambuja Cements up by 1.89%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.29%, JP Associates down by 1.20%, Jindal Steel down by 1.18%, Cipla down by 1.15% and HUL down by 0.88% and were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in the green barring KLSE Composite down by 0.19% was the lone loser amongst the Asian pack; Shanghai Composite up by 0.60%, Hang Seng rose 0.71%, Jakarta Composite strengthened 0.42%, Nikkei 225 increased 0.84%, Straits Times added 0.35%, KOSPI Composite surged 1.95% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.86%. 

The European markets were trading on a mixed note; France’s CAC 40 lost 0.16%, Germany’s DAX rose 1.62% and United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 edged higher by 0.96%.