Markets continue to trade firm in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade firm in early noon session on account of buying by fund and retail investors in the blue chip counters ahead of the IIP and inflation data scheduled to be released later in the day amid firm Asian cues. Sentiment was upbeat after the private agency Skymet forecasted above normal monsoon this year. Skymet said that the year's southwest monsoon should be slightly ‘above normal’, at 105 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA). Rainfall within 96-104 percent of the LPA is considered normal and anything above as 'above normal'. Further, government has also said that after two years of deficient rainfall, monsoon this year is expected to be normal and has directed states to chalk out plans to boost crop acreage and production in kharif season starting June. Some support also come in with Chief Economic Advisor to Indian Government -- Arvind Subramanian’s statement that India’s economy has the potential to grow between eight and 10 per cent if the country continues the pace of reforms.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, led by a rebound in Japanese shares as investors hunted for bargains, and commodities like crude oil strengthened as the weaker U.S. dollar made them cheaper for buyers using currencies other than the greenback. Back home, in scrip specific development, share of Inox wind was trading higher after the company received two contracts for a capacity of 70MW from the Adani Green Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Enterprises and part of the Adani Group.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25130.33, up by 108.17 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 24996.44 and 25148.08. 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 0.95%, while Small cap index up by 0.93%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.39%, Auto up by 1.30%, Oil & Gas up by 1.09%, Power up by 0.81% and Bankex up by 0.61%, while Metal down by 0.66% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.97%, Adani Ports &Special up by 2.03%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.96%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.65% and ICICI Bank up by 1.53%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.99%, ITC down by 0.92%, TCS down by 0.54%, Tata Steel down by 0.48% and HDFC Bank down by 0.38% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, global rating agency, Fitch Ratings expects India’s GDP growth to gradually accelerate to 7.7 per cent in the current fiscal and 7.9 per cent in FY18, a shade higher than the estimated 7.5 per cent in the previous year on a back of higher real disposable income, assuming a normal monsoon after two years of below-average rainfall and a substantial wage increase for central government employees.  It expects India to be on the top of the global growth ladder.

Fitch Ratings in its India-Global Economic Outlook (GEO) Forecast report has said that the gradual implementation of the structural reform agenda is expected to contribute to higher growth, even though progress is lacking so far on big-ticket reforms such as the Land Acquisition Amendment Bill and the Goods and Services Tax. Highlighting that the government continues to gradually broaden its reform agenda, Fitch said that the government in its Budget for FY17 contained some further announcements of reforms, including measures related to the FDI regime, the financial sector and agriculture.

In an encouraging development for banking industry, rating agency Fitch expects another 25 bps of monetary policy loosening, facilitated by the government's recent announcement to maintain its fiscal targets for current financial year and next financial year 2017-18.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7697.95, up by 26.55 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 7663.35 and 7709.10. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 3.06%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.12%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.07%, Adani Ports &Special up by 2.05% and Aurobindo Pharma up by 2.01%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.93%, ITC down by 1.16%, Ambuja Cement down by 0.82%, HCL Tech. down by 0.74% and HDFC Bank down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 10.95 points or 0.56% to 1,981.32, Jakarta Composite increased 27.01 points or 0.56% to 4,813.98, Hang Seng increased 43.38 points or 0.21% to 20,484.19 and Nikkei 225 increased 177.66 points or 1.13% to 15,928.79, while Taiwan Weighted decreased 31.41 points or 0.37% to 8,531.18, Shanghai Composite decreased 26.52 points or 0.87% to 3,007.44 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 0.82 points or 0.05% to 1,714.46.