Nifty above 8200, Sensex firm; Coal India, SBI, HDFC gain

Moneycontrol Bureau

9:50 am Buzzing: Shares of Va Tech Wabag gained nearly 5 percent intraday on winning sewage treatment plant order in Philippines.

The contract value of the order is about Rs 175 crore and the project is funded by World Bank. "Wabag will design and build the 60 MLD Valenzuela sewage treatment plant for Maynilad Water Services Inc. using the activated sludge process," said the company in its filing to exchange.

The contract also includes operation and maintenance of the plant as part of performance proving period of one year. "Wabag Philippines has proven once again by winning this repeat order in Valenzuela," said Coleridge Shelley, Director, Wabag Philippines.

9:30 am Gearing up for Budget:  Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will meet state finance ministers today to elicit their views on the forthcoming budget to be presented in Lok Sabha in February-end.

After meeting state finance ministers, Jaitley will start customary pre-budget consultations with different interest groups, including industry and trade unions.

He will be presenting the first full fledged budget of the Narendra Modi-led government in February. Last year, the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram had brought an interim budget in February for the fiscal 2014-15 and later in July, Jaitley presented a regular one. The meeting with state finance ministers assumes significance as Jaitley is also likely to discuss CST compensation and other issues related to proposed Goods and Service Tax (GST).

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The market has opened January F&O series with marginal gains. The Sensex is up 64.99 points at 27273.60 and the Nifty is up 32.00 points at 8206.10. About 571 shares have advanced, 218 shares declined, and 20 shares are unchanged.

Coal India, SBI, HDFC, ICICI Bank and Tata Power are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are GAIL, ITC, Maruti, Dr Reddy's and Hindalco.

The Indian rupee opened with marginal gain of 7 paise at 63.45 per dollar on Friday against 63.52 Wednesday.

The dollar edged up against the yen on light bargain hunting following two sessions of losses, with markets slowly getting into gear after the Christmas holiday.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity said, "Local equity market is likely to trade sideways today and will take cues from global markets for further directions. Though not much action is expected as most of the markets are closed on the occasion of Christmas and New year.”

“Asian markets have already started the day mixed. Dollar strength will keep the rupee under pressure. Range for the day is seen between 63.20-63.80/dollar," he added.

Global markets, meanwhile, are mixed with the US stocks ending near unchanged on Wednesday, with the Dow furthering its record climb, a day after its first trip above 18,000.  The jobless claims fell by 9,000 to 280,000 last week.

In Asian markets, Japanese shares kick off trade on a weak note following the release of a mixed bag of economic data.

In commodities, crude prices slip with Brent at USD 60 per barrel as crude inventories unexpectedly surged last week as imports jumped and refineries maintained output.Back home, major public sector bank reforms may be on the anvil.