Benchmarks trade at intraday highs in noon deals

Extending their northward journey, Indian equity benchmarks are trading at high point of day’s trade in noon deals with frontline gauges just shy of their crucial 7,700 (Nifty) and 25,200 (Sensex) levels. Sentiments remained up-beat with Finance Minister’s statement that he will reach out to the Congress again to persuade it to support the much delayed GST bill in second half of the Budget Session beginning next month. Appreciation in Indian rupee too aided sentiments. The rupee appreciated by 17 paise to 66.37 against the US dollar in noon deals on increased selling of the American currency by exporters and banks amidst continued foreign fund inflows. Global cues too remained supportive with most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green terrain at this point of time as markets scaled back expectations for how fast and how far US interest rates might rise this year, bruising the dollar and boosting sovereign bonds.

Back home, hopes of a rate cut by the RBI at its monetary policy review on April 5 accelerated buying activity. Buying in banking counter too aided sentiments, as the Reserve Bank of India has tweaked its rule asking banks to use the marginal cost of funds formula to calculate interest rate for loans with fixed tenure of less three years. Shares of sugar manufacturers remained on buyers’ radar on expectation of lower production for sugar season 2016-17. Telecom stocks also remained in focus after the global rating agency Moody’s Investors Service has said that telecom tower companies in India will post a revenue growth of about 10 percent over the next two years as mobile operators are expanding their 3G and 4G footprint and will seek to lease more tower space.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25183.48, up by 283.02 points or 1.14% after trading in a range of 25055.42 and 25185.86. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.37%, while Small cap index up by 1.56%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.72%, Metal up by 2.26%, Basic Materials up by 2.22%, Oil & Gas up by 2.18% and Capital Goods up by 1.72%, while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Lupin up by 4.53%, ICICI Bank up by 3.58%, GAIL India up by 3.38%, Adani Ports &Special up by 3.17% and Tata Steel up by 3.04%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 1.12%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.49%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.47% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.38% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Asian Development Bank (ADB) in its flagship publication Asian Development Outlook (ADO) has projected that the India's growth rate for the fiscal year 2016-17 will be pull down from 7.6 per cent this year due to global headwinds however reforms will help the country remain one of the fastest growing economies in the world. ADB growth forecast of 7.4 per cent for 2016-17 is substantially lower than its earlier projection of 7.8 per cent.

ADB has also projected the rise in consumer inflation, mainly on account of the impact of salary hike of government employees and a likely mild pick up in global oil prices. Inflation is expected to average 5.4 per cent in next fiscal, rising to 5.8 per cent in 2017-18. Furthermore, ADB in its outlook has said that in the next fiscal year weak global economy will continue to weigh on exports, offsetting a further pickup in domestic consumption, due in part to an impending salary hike for government employees.

However, it said that public investment would remain strong next fiscal and strong PSU banks will help bring in an uptick in bank credit and boost private spending in 2017-18 fiscal. Public banks' non-performing assets and an over-leveraged corporate sector leave limited scope for more private investment in infrastructure and highlight the need for policy actions.

ADB's Chief Economist Shang-Jin Wei has said that 'The potential growth of the country can be raised further if it can successfully implement necessary reforms including unifying the tax regime, improving labour market regulations as opening further to foreign direct investment and trade’. Moreover, ADB projected recovery in exports in 2017-18 fiscal as large economies show a mild growth rebound, and improved business environment with government policy actions in place.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7685.65, up by 88.65 points or 1.17% after trading in a range of 7643.45 and 7687.95. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 5.36%, Lupin up by 4.53%, Hindalco up by 4.03%, BPCL up by 3.55% and Adani Ports &Special up by 3.43%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 1.22%, HDFC down by 0.97%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.60%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.55% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.28% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 5.16 points or 0.3% to 1,720.20, KOSPI Index rose 7.23 points or 0.36% to 2,002.14, Jakarta Composite jumped 33.38 points or 0.7% to 4,814.68, Shanghai Composite soared 72.99 points or 2.5% to 2,992.83, Taiwan Weighted surged 119.69 points or 1.39% to 8,737.04 and Hang Seng was up by 346.98 points or 1.7% to 20,713.28. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 224.57 points or 1.31% to 16,878.96.