Markets trade higher in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks have extended their early gains and are trading firm in early noon session, on account of buying by investors in the blue chip counters amid firm global cues. Sentiment remained upbeat with NITI Aayog member Bibek Debroy’s statement that India's economic growth could be around 7.8 per cent in 2015-16, higher than the Finance Ministry's projection of 7.5 per cent. Some support also came in with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley emphasizing that the government is committed to reform. He said things appear to be in the final round as far as Goods and Services Tax (GST) is concerned while the Bankruptcy Bill is expected to be taken up in the upcoming Parliament Session. Furthermore, investors got some support from report that growth in India's services firms rose to a 21 month high of 54.3 in March after a sudden contraction of 51.4 in February, as new businesses increased markedly. 

On global front, Asian markets were trading mixed with investors cautious after sharp falls in US and European markets. Back home, both the Sensex and Nifty were trading above the crucial 24,900 and 7,600 levels, respectively. In scrip specific deployment, share of Gallantt Ispat has rallied over 7% after the company’s board has approved the capital expenditure (capex) plan of Rs 511 crore. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24943.01, up by 59.42 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 24858.05 and 25000.65. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.11%, while Small cap index up by 0.57%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.10%, Auto up by 0.80%, Realty up by 0.54%, Power up by 0.51% and Consumer Durables up by 0.40%, while Bankex down by 0.11% and Oil & Gas down by 0.03% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 3.48%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.36%, Tata Motors up by 2.15%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.38% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.35%. On the flip side, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.54%, ICICI Bank down by 1.26%, Axis Bank down by 1.13%, Cipla down by 0.94% and Wipro down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, emphasizing that government is committed to reforms, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the bankruptcy Bill is expected to be taken up in the upcoming Parliament session. He added that the bankruptcy Bill is in the final stages and is before the Parliamentary Committee and is hopeful that in the coming session, it should come up for positive consideration.  Jaitley said the country needs investments, and efforts are being made to ease the business environment so that people feel attracted to do business in this country.

Last year in December the government had introduced Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2015 in Parliament that will make it easier for sick companies to either wind up their businesses or engineer a turnaround. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2015, will replace the existing bankruptcy laws to make it easy for investors to exit within a fixed time frame, in an effort to improve the ease of doing business in India.

As far as Goods and Services Tax (GST) is concerned, Jaitley said things appear to be in the final round. He said the government wants to reform the country’s taxation system with respect to direct and indirect taxes and added that ‘the government will look to bring down the direct taxes to the global levels and on indirect taxes.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7629.50, up by 26.30 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 7594.20 and 7638.65. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 4.30%, Tata Steel up by 3.38%, Idea Cellular up by 2.97%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.72% and ACC up by 2.42%. On the flip side, Bosch down by 2.14%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.07%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.30%, ICICI Bank down by 1.24% and Axis Bank down by 1.07% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.41 points or 0.02% to 1,718.49, KOSPI Index increased 8.58 points or 0.44% to 1,971.32, Hang Seng increased 13.97 points or 0.07% to 20,190.97 and Jakarta Composite increased 17.17 points or 0.35% to 4,875.24, while Taiwan Weighted decreased 144.25 points or 1.67% to 8,513.30, Nikkei 225 decreased 17.46 points or 0.11% to 15,715.36 and Shanghai Composite decreased 6.31 points or 0.21% to 3,046.76.