Benchmarks continue firm trade in late morning session

After getting a gap-up start, benchmark equity indices continued to trade in fine fettle in late morning deals on sustained buying by funds and retail investors. The market sentiments were lifted by overnight gains on Wall Street that was driven by expectations the US Federal Reserve might not raise interest rates next month. Some support also came in from a report of India Ratings that the government can spend an additional Rs 37,200 crore more this fiscal year in infra investments or bank recapitalisation and still not miss the 3.9 percent fiscal deficit target, attributing the surplus to the higher indirect tax collections, which till July rose a healthy 39 percent and a massive decline in crude prices. Recovery in Indian rupee against dollar too aided the sentiments. However, volatility is expected during the latter half of the trading session due to rollover pressures ahead of the expiry of August F&O series.

On global front, Asian markets were trading in green after Wall Street soared overnight, breaking a six-day string of losses. The recovery brought a measure of relief to many investors, although experts warned that more volatility could be ahead. Traders were encouraged by comments from William Dudley, president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, that the case for a U.S. interest rate hike in September is less compelling to me than it was a few weeks ago, given China's troubles, falling oil prices and weakness in emerging markets.  Back home, Indian rupee recovered by 26 paise to 65.88 against the US dollar in early trade on selling of the American currency.

Back on street, all sectoral indices were trading in the positive territory with BSE Realty index up 2.14% followed by Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables, infrastructure and IT indices trading higher by over one and half percent. Further, Financial stocks which took a beating in the recent past are surging in today’s trade as investors buy at attractive levels. In scrip specific development, Shares of Bharti Airtel have surged after the company acquired Augere Wireless Broadband India which holds 20 MHz of BWA spectrum in the telecom circle of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Furthermore, Hathway Cable & Datacom has rallied after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) removed the company from its caution list and foreign investors can now buy more shares in the company.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2119 stocks traded, 1619 stocks advanced, while 451 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26080.94, up by 366.28 points or 1.42% after trading in a range of 25943.75 and 26170.39. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.88%, while Small cap index up by 2.04%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.14%, Oil & Gas up by 1.98%, Consumer Durables up by 1.93%, infrastructure up by 1.87% and IT up by 1.55%, while there were no losers on the sectoral space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 5.90%, HDFC up by 5.81%, Lupin up by 3.58%, Cipla up by 3.37% and Tata Steel up by 2.85%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 2.83%, Tata Motors down by 2.11%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.90%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.00% and Coal India down by 0.46% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, to evaluate further business opportunities, India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have launched a forum namely ‘Arab-India Economic Forum’ (AIEF). The forum will help to discuss strategies and solutions to investor challenges in India on account of taxation and policy related issues in India and how the government can assist in creating a conducive business environment for investors. 

AIEF has been launched in partnership with Consulate General of India in Dubai, to bring together political and business leaders from UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Egypt and India. It will be focusing on opportunities in infrastructure, alternative energy, digital India, tourism and finance and will address the policy framework and guidelines required to attract Arab investors and industrialists. Additionally, the forum will be a strong platform for Indian businesses aiming to explore the Middle East market. 

The recent visit of Prime Minister of India to the UAE heralds a new era in bilateral relations and opens up new opportunities for trade and commerce. On the Prime Minister’s visit the UAE had agreed to increase their investment in India to $75 billion (about Rs 5 lakh crore) through the establishment of UAE-India Infrastructure Investment Fund.The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7904.05, up by 112.20 points or 1.44% after trading in a range of 7862.30 and 7930.80. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cairn India up by 6.90%, HDFC up by 6.05%, Vedanta up by 5.96%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.78% and Lupin up by 3.60%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 2.98%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.99%, Tata Motors down by 1.82%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.12% and NMDC down by 1.08% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 1.03%, KOSPI Index up by 0.89%, Shanghai Composite up by 1.67%, Straits Times up by 1.97%, Taiwan Weighted up by 1.18%, Jakarta Composite up by 3.28%, Nikkei 225 up by 0.63% and Hang Seng was up by 2.33%.