Markets continue to hold on to its gains in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in early noon session on account of fresh round of value-buying by funds and retail investors in the frontline bluechip sectors. Firm cues from the other Asian markets too aided sentiments. Most of the Asian counterparts were trading higher despite the prospect of the UK leaving the European Union added to worries before central bank meetings. Back home, traders took some encouragement with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement after a meeting of Empowered Committee of state FMs on the long awaited indirect tax reform that every state has either supported or accepted the idea of the pan-India Goods and Services Tax (GST) except Tamil Nadu.

However, gains remained capped with the report that the monsoon has started off on a shaky note with a 22% rainfall deficit in mid-June, delaying crop planting and triggering a rise in the price of food, particularly vegetables. In scrip specific development, share of Aviation companies trading higher the government has cleared Aviation policy. Kiri Industries was trading higher after the company isis expecting its revenue to grow by 25-30 per cent to around Rs 1,300 crore in FY17 and about Rs 1,500-1,600 crore in FY18.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26493.71, up by 98.00 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 26446.59 and 26531.90. 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 0.47%, while Small cap index up by 0.77%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.27%, Power up by 0.95%, Oil & Gas up by 0.72%, PSU up by 0.59% and FMCG up by 0.52%, while Metal down by 0.39% and Bankex down by 0.02% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 2.60%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.21%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.74%, Cipla up by 1.41% and NTPC up by 1.25%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.17%, Axis Bank down by 0.98%, ICICI Bank down by 0.77%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.32% and HDFC down by 0.28% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, worried over rising food inflation, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has called a special meeting of food, agriculture ministers and other senior officials to discuss prices of essential commodities like pulses and tomato, and also to chalk out an immediate plan to insulate poor people from increasing prices of food items.

Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, The Cabinet secretary, the chief economic advisor and secretaries of the departments concerned, including  finance, food and consumer affairs are slated to attend the meeting.

The price of vegetables is a major concern for the government, with the Wholesale Price Index or WPI data for may showing that vegetable inflation rose sharply from 2.21 per cent in April to 12.94 per cent. The ministers will review the food price situation and discuss steps to keep in check prices of essential commodities, including pulses. The government has procured 1.15 lakh tonnes pulses directly from farmers as of now for creating a buffer stock of 1.5 lakh tonnes this year. It is also importing pulses through state-owned trading agencies like MMTC. So far, 38,500 tonnes of lentils have been contracted for import.

The meeting will take stock of the progress made in pulse imports, discuss creation of buffer stock and lifting of the stock by state governments for retail distribution at subsidised rates also discuss the import and export duty on sugar, wheat and edible oils.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8134.30, up by 25.45 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 8123.15 and 8147.60. There were 35 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 2.52%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.46% , Larsen & Toubro up by 1.73%, Idea Cellular up by 1.55% and Power Grid up by 1.43%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 2.81%, Coal India down by 1.25%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 1.05%, Hindalco down by 0.99% and Axis Bank down by 0.91% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.35 points or 0.08% to 1,627.46, Taiwan Weighted increased 30.25 points or 0.35% to 8,606.37, Shanghai Composite increased 47.02 points or 1.65% to 2,889.21, Hang Seng increased 57.66 points or 0.28% to 20,445.19 and Nikkei 225 increased 60.58 points or 0.38% to 15,919.58, while Jakarta Composite decreased 25.43 points or 0.53% to 4,796.16 and KOSPI Index decreased 3.2 points or 0.16% to 1,968.83.