Sensex crosses 28,000 level in early trade

Key benchmark indices edged higher in the early trade. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex zoomed past the psychological 28,000 level before falling below that level. The Sensex was currently up 95.30 points or 0.34% at 27,983.20. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was strong with more than three gainers for every loser on BSE.

Ashok Leyland surged after reporting strong sales in December 2014. State Bank of India dropped amid volatility. Piramal Enterprises edged higher after clarification on a media news item of acquisition of two infra projects.

Asian stocks were mostly lower today, 5 January 2015, following a weak lead from Wall Street, and continued jitters in the oil market.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth a net Rs 259.82 crore on Friday, 2 January 2015, as per provisional data.

At 9:17 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 95.30 points or 0.34% at 27,983.20. The index gained 123.56 points at the day's high of 28,011.46 in early trade. The index rose 56.35 points at the day's low of 27,944.25 in early trade.

The CNX Nifty was up 17.45 points or 0.21% at 8,412.90. The index hit a high of 8,420.15 in intraday trade. The index hit a low of 8,407.80 in intraday trade.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 40.73 points or 0.39% at 10,570.93. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 51.32 points or 0.45% at 11,359.47. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was strong with more than three gainers for every loser on BSE. 637 shares gained and 128 shares fell. A total of 34 shares were unchanged.

State Bank of India (SBI) lost 0.02% at Rs 315.20. The stock hit a high of Rs 316.90 and a low of Rs 315.05. The bank after market hours on Friday, 2 January 2015 in a clarification with regard to news item titled "Rs. 84,580 cr in wilful defaults, say bank union", said that SBI is not aware of the source of facts detailed in the newspaper. SBI said that all the events or material information which are required to be disclosed under clause 36 of the listing agreement are first advised to the stock exchanges. SBI further clarified that the bank is under an obligation to disclose the list of suit-filed accounts of wilful defaulters of Rs 25 lakh and above at every quarter to RBI/Credit Information Bureau (India).

Ashok Leyland jumped 5.24% at Rs 56.20. The company before market hours today, 5 January 2015 said its total sales rose 48% to 9,290 units in December 2014 over December 2013. Sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicle (M&HCV) surged 85% to 7,210 units in December 2014 over December 2013. Sales of light commerical vehicles (LCV) declined 13% to 2,080 units in December 2014 over December 2013.

Piramal Enterprises rose 0.34% at Rs 839.50. The company after market hours on Friday, 2 January 2015 in a clarification with regard to news item titled "Piramal Enterprises have acquired 2 BOT Infra Projects from Supreme Infra worth Rs. 700 crores" said that the company from time to time explores various investment opportunities as part of its structured investment business, in the normal course of its business. This evaluation of opportunities includes various criteria, including technical financial, taxation, commercial, regulatory and legal. Once these criteria are met it is followed by internal approvals at various levels, post which, comes a comprehensive financial and legal diligence, Piramal Enterprises said. Projects that come out of this filtration process are then placed before the Board or its duly empowered Committee for approval. It is an established practice that only those proposals that are definitive and which are disc losable events, are disclosed to the stock exchanges, the company said. Any disclosure prior to this would only be speculative, it added. Piramal Enterprises further said that the investment opportunities forming part of the company's structured investment business, includes investments in infra projects such as the project referred to in the captioned news item. Since nothing is of definite nature and nothing has been approved by the Board/duly empowered Committee it is difficult for the company to comment on the same at this stage, Piramal Enterprises said.

Public sector banks (PSBs) suggested the government to transfer government's stake in PSBs to a bank investment company. At the two day Retreat for Banks and Financial Institutions called Gyan Sangam held at National Institute of Banking Management (NIBM) in Pune, Maharashtra on Friday, 2 January 2015, and Saturday, 3 January 2015, PSBs also suggested that eventually the government should reduce its stake in PSBs to less than 51%.

On the second and last day of the summit on Saturday, 3 January 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said banks would be run professionally, and there would be no interference. But accountability was essential. He said the government had no vested interest, and public sector banks can derive strength from this fact. The Prime Minister said that banks in India should actually compete for achieving maximum cashless transactions, as this would be the best solution to the problem of black money. Speaking at the summit, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that banks have a major role to play in the financing of infrastructure.

Jaitley said that the government is open to bold decisions for professionalization of the management and autonomy in decision making, rewarding merit, and relooking at the recruitment process at the top management level of PSBs. The government was ready to protect commercial decisions so as to avoid the delay in good decisions, Jaitley said.

Earlier, Chief Economic Advisor to the finance ministry Dr. Arvind Subramanian proposed that the PSBs should be differentiated into weak, good and strong categories and accordingly consolidation and restructuring measures could be applied to them. The current overhang of stressed assets should be resolved by distribution of the pain between promoters, creditors and tax payers, Dr. Subramanian said.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Dr. Raghuram Rajan stated that there is a need for internationalisation of the banking system in the current global environment. In the short term (up to 12 months), he said that there was need to clean up the NPAs and then restructure other stressed loans so as to put the economy back on the track.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday, 3 January 2015, said that government has taken necessary steps to change the Land Acquisition act so as to revive infrastructure growth. Growth in power and other infrastructure sectors needs to be revived, Jaitley said. The Finance Minister was speaking at the two day Retreat for Banks and Financial Institutions called Gyan Sangam at National Institute of Banking Management (NIBM) at Pune, Maharashtra.

Asian stocks were mostly lower today, 5 January 2015, following a weak lead from Wall Street, and continued jitters in the oil market. Key indices in Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, and Indonesia were off 0.57% to 1.14%. Key indices in China, Japan, and Hong Kong were up 0.31% to 2.42%.

US stocks ended near unchanged on Friday, 2 January 2015, with the S&P 500 down for a third session, after economic reports showed manufacturing slowing but still in expansion mode at the end of 2014.

Factory activity in the United States grew at the slowest pace in six months in December 2014, weakened by declines in orders and production. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said on Friday, 2 January 2015, that its manufacturing index fell to 55.5 in December from 58.7 in November, which was just below a three-year high reached in October.

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