Jubilation continues on D-Street in noon deals

Indian markets continuing their jubilation were trading higher by gain of around a percent in afternoon deals. After making a cautious start, markets have been strengthening gradually with no sign of any profit taking till yet and Nifty once again hitting the crucial psychological mark of 8,600. Sentiments remained up-beat after GST panel submitted its report to Rajya Sabha, proposing three modifications related to clause 12, 18 and 19. The first modification is regarding 1 percent additional tax on inter-state supply in Clause 18, which the panel has said that may lead to cascading effect on taxes. Decline in crude prices and progress of monsoon too aided the sentiments. Appreciation in Indian rupee too supported the sentiments. The partially convertible rupee was trading at 63.52 per dollar in noon deals as against the Tuesday’s close of 63.54 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange.

On the global front, European counters have made a weak opening, CAC, DAX and FTSE all were trading in red with a cut of over half a percent in early deals. Asian markets were trading mostly in red, pulling back after several consecutive sessions of gains, amid disappointing results from technology and industrial heavyweights in the US. Back home, on the sectoral front, oil and gas, auto and fast moving consumer goods witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while metal, software and technology remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were going neck-to-neck with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,624 shares on the gaining side against 866 shares on the losing side while 101 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28444.01, up by 261.87 points or 0.93% after trading in a range of 28070.91 and 28457.21. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.84%, while Small cap index up by 0.76%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 2.10%, Auto up by 0.98%, FMCG up by 0.96%, PSU up by 0.87% and Bankex up by 0.76%, while Metal down by 0.47%, IT down by 0.19% and TECK down by 0.16% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 3.45%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.89%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.45%, HDFC up by 2.38% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.19%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.56%, Lupin down by 2.44%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.18%, Hindalco down by 1.06% and TCS down by 0.90% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to tackle agricultural challenges in future, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be releasing ‘Vision 2050’ for agriculture, at the ICAR foundation day celebrations, at Patna in Bihar on July 25, 2015. The ‘Vision 2050’ is prepared by the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR).

Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said that Prime Minister (PM) would also inaugurate three new projects - Farmers First, Arya and Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav (My village my pride) - to stress on the 'lab to land' concept of the Centre.

PM is also expected to ask agriculture scientists from all over the country to speed up the 'lab to land' approach, intended to provide new technologies to farmers, which will lead to a quantum jump in agriculture productivity. He will also provide 'soil testing kits' to young agriculture entrepreneurs.

Earlier, Agriculture minister had launched an insurance portal for farmers that will help with queries and getting cover. He had also launched a weather alert service. An online interface for filing insurance applications and allowing the scrutiny of these by banks is proposed to be developed in the second phase. According to agriculture ministry, only about 20 percent of gross cropped area was insured in 2014-15.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8,608.20, up by 78.75 points or 0.92% after trading in a range of 8498.65 and 8613.05. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 3.73%, Reliance Industries up by 3.45%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.90%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.60% and BPCL up by 2.50%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.46%, Lupin down by 2.36%, Idea Cellular down by 1.81%, Cairn India down by 1.60% and Hindalco down by 1.30% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 259.95 points or 1.02% to 25,276.48, Nikkei 225 decreased 248.3 points or 1.19% to 20,593.67, Taiwan Weighted shed 87.26 points or 0.97% to 8,918.70, KOSPI Index dropped 18.89 points or 0.91% to 2,064.73, Straits Times slipped 14.69 points or 0.44% to 3,356.72 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 8.09 points or 0.47% to 1,728.10.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite increased 0.68 points or 0.01% to 4,870.53 and Shanghai Composite was up by 3.61 points or 0.09% to 4,021.28.

European Markets were trading in the red; Germany’s DAX lost 0.65%, France’s CAC declined 0.54% and UK’s FTSE was down by 0.58%.