Benchmarks continue to trade in fine fettle in noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks are trading in fine fettle in noon deals on hopes of seeing Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill sail through in Parliament, which has gathered for a winter session that begins today. Some strength also came in after Moody’s said that most Indian companies under its rating scanner would benefit from strong domestic growth and accommodative monetary policy in 2016. Some support also came with the report that India's crude oil import bill is likely to dip by 35 per cent to $73 billion this fiscal as global energy prices slumped on weak demand. On the global front, most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green at this point of time on easing tensions over Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian warplane and broadly upbeat US economic data also sparked buying on domestic markets

Back home, there was broad based buying witnessed in the markets and apart from the blue chips, the broader markets too equally participated in the rally. Meanwhile, none of the sectoral indices, barring healthcare, were trading in the red. While metal and realty witnessed the maximum gain in trade, consumer durables, public sector undertaking, technology, telecom, energy and basic materials too were trading significantly higher. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1514 shares on the gaining side against 893 shares on the losing side while 207 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25933.15, up by 157.41 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 25769.81 and 25960.28. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.32%, while Small cap index up by 0.52%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.55%, Metal up by 1.80%, Consumer Durables up by 1.13%, PSU up by 0.87% and TECK up by 0.70%, while Healthcare down by 0.15% was the lone no losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.86%, Tata Motors up by 3.12%, Tata Steel up by 2.38%, Coal India up by 2.21% and Hindalco up by 1.97%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 6.50%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.09%, Lupin down by 0.56%, TCS down by 0.55% and Cipla down by 0.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, on order to boost export of gems and jewellery sector, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has urged the Finance Ministry to consider reduction in the duty on gold imports to 2 per cent from 10 per cent. She further said that the gems and jewellery sector has been very badly affected and is finding it difficult to compete in the global market because of 10 per cent duty on gold imports.

However, the minister added the Finance Ministry may look at the current account deficit (CAD) position before taking decision on the proposal as the higher import of the yellow metal has adverse bearing on India's CAD. Current account deficit happens when value of import of goods and services is more than that of exports. In the previous fiscal 2014-15, the CAD shrank to 1.3 per cent of GDP ($27.5 billion) from 1.7 per cent ($32.4 billion) in 2013-14.

The government data suggest the country’s gold imports reduced to almost half in September this year to $2 billion, as against $3.783 billion in the year-ago period. Besides, labour intensive gems and jewellery exports in October dipped by about 13 per cent to $3.48 billion. India is the largest importer of gold in the world, which mainly caters to the demand of the jewellery industry.  On the flip side, highlighting the government’s efforts on the country's overall exports, Sitharaman said the government has announced benefits such as 3 per cent interest subsidy and enhanced duty drawback rates to push exports. She further said that the Commerce Secretary is going around to all the states to talk with the state industries to discuss ways to enhance exports. The ministry is working on ways to engage more with the states to boost the outbound shipments.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7875.35, up by 43.75 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 7832.00 and 7885.65. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 4.09%, Zee Entertainment up by 3.09%, Tata Motors up by 3.07%, Tata Steel up by 2.25% and Coal India up by 2.23%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 6.64%, Cairn India down by 1.05%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.02%, Lupin down by 0.65% and Bosch down by 0.57% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 10.15 points or 0.05% to 22,508.15, KOSPI Index surged 21.26 points or 1.06% to 2,030.68, Jakarta Composite gained 33.11 points or 0.72% to 4,618.66, Nikkei 225 rose 96.83 points or 0.49% to 19,944.41 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 98.77 points or 1.18% to 8,484.90. 

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite decreased 3.01 points or 0.08% to 3,644.92 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 1.9 points or 0.11% to 1,682.52.