Markets trade near the highs of the day supported by rupee recovery

Indian markets gradually moving higher are trading near the high points of the day, supported by some renewed buying interest in beaten down blue-chip stocks. Both the benchmarks were trading higher by around half a percent. Traders were getting some support with rupee wiping off its initial losses due to fresh capital inflows and on the back of dollar's weakness against other currencies overseas. Earlier rupee after a day of break depreciated to hit a fresh two-year low against dollar. Rate sensitives barring banking were showing upmove with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley making a case for interest rate cut, stating that RBI will take note of the declining inflation and take a decision accordingly. There were sector specific actions hogging the limelight of the markets, the power gauge has improved on report that the Ministry of Power has proposed setting up of two special purpose vehicles, one for operations and the other for infrastructure, to set up ultra mega power projects. On the other hand, the PSU banking stocks that had surged on announcement of government’s rejuvenation plan ‘rainbow’ continue to suffer profit taking and all the major PSU banks were down by around a percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27975.57, up by 144.03 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 27721.25 and 28021.39. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.27%, while Small cap index gained 0.42%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.03%, IT up by 0.75%, Capital Goods up by 0.63%, TECK up by 0.46%, Auto up by 0.44%, while PSU down by 0.60%, Metal down by 0.53%, Bankex down by 0.08%, Power down by 0.06%, INFRA down by 0.03% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma Inds. up by 3.76%, Cipla up by 2.50%, Lupin up by 2.38%, Wipro up by 1.59% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.41%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 2.08%, SBI down by 1.29%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.88%, HDFC down by 0.83% and NTPC down by 0.63% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, government, observing that Indian pharma sector can help the global community in its fight against various life threatening diseases, has assured the pharma industry of “every possible help” in resolving its issues related to exports and said efforts would be made to expedite work on different proposals to realise the full potential of the sector.

Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman after a meeting with the representatives of Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) and officials from different ministries, who raised various issues relating to pharma exports including domestic and international barriers or constraints, stated that looking at the complexity of issues, need for convergence among policies and programme of different departments was felt. She also directed senior officials to speed up the work on various proposals so that full potential of Indian pharma sector can be realized.

The official statement of the government said that a sector like pharma which is deeply rooted in science and is truly global in nature, a 'Think Tank' consisting of senior pharma professionals, CEOs, government officials, scientists, researchers and pharmacists can provide an ideal forum to identify bottlenecks and resolve various issues for overcoming challenges and promoting hassle free exports.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8498.65, up by 32.10 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 8425.95 and 8520.45. There were 27 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma Inds. up by 3.68%, Lupin up by 2.51%, Cipla up by 2.42%, ACC up by 2.13% and Wipro up by 1.59%. On the flip side, Bank Of Baroda down by 2.54%, Hindalco down by 1.97%, PNB down by 1.85%, SBI down by 1.76% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.99% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in red, Nikkei 225 slumped by 331.84 points or 1.61% to 20,222.63, Hang Seng lost 186.07 points or 0.79% to 23,288.90, Taiwan Weighted was down by 155.38 points or 1.9% to 8,021.84, Jakarta Composite declined by 29.66 points or 0.66% to 4,480.81, KOSPI Index was down by 16.88 points or 0.86% to 1,939.38, Straits Times was lower by 8.86 points or 0.29% to 3,040.79 and Shanghai Composite was marginally down by 2.08 points or 0.06% to 3,746.08.