Benchmarks continue to trade in green in late morning session

Indian benchmark indices continued to trade in green in late morning session on emergence of buying by funds and retail investors amid positive cues from other Asian markets. Sentiments got some support with the report that quick progress of monsoon in last one-two days has taken the crucial weather system to many new regions and is expected to intensify in the days ahead. Further, the Finance Ministry expects the country's growth rate to climb to 8 percent in the current financial year on the back of above normal monsoon.  However, investors remained anxious over Governor Raghuram Rajan’s decision to not renew his term after September 3, 2016. With Rajan’s departure, the continuation of the RBI’s policy, especially in taming inflation and cleaning up massive bad debts held by state-run banks, remains the major concern.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green on Monday as worries eased about the coming referendum in the UK on European Union membership. Ahead of Thursday’s EU membership vote, polls showed the lead of the Leave campaign had been trimmed. Further, Japanese market rose after the yen weakened against major currencies. However, the Shanghai Composite Index was marginally in red, dragged down by property companies after data over weekend showed Chinese home prices rose in fewer cities last month than in April.

Back home, stocks from information technology (IT), Capital Goods and Realty counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Banking, Consumer Durables and Power counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, shares of HCL Technologies gained after the company signed a strategic IT partnership contract with LeasePlan, a global fleet management and driver mobility company of Dutch origin. Eros International Media jumped after the company inked a television syndication deal for their new and catalogue films with Zee Network, one of India’s leading television media and entertainment companies.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2189 stocks traded, 1060 stocks advanced, while 1005 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26681.27, up by 55.36 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 26447.88 and 26750.23. There were 17 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.06%, while Small cap index was up by 0.04%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.47%, TECK up by 1.26%, Capital Goods up by 0.93%, Realty up by 0.61%, Oil & Gas up by 0.41% while, Bankex down by 0.46%, Consumer Durables down by 0.40%, Power down by 0.21%, FMCG down by 0.08% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 1.67%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.66%, TCS up by 1.32%, Tata Steel up by 1.31% and GAIL India up by 0.97%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 1.27%, Asian Paints down by 1.03%, Lupin down by 1.01%, ICICI Bank down by 0.78% and Coal India down by 0.69% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy Minister Goyal though supporting government’s disinvestment plan for public sector undertakings (PSUs) has said that his ministry will not reduce the government stake in power sector PSUs below 51 per cent and added that the management and control of the PSUs should remain with the government.

Goyal further said that as far as disinvestment is concerned, Finance Minister can do whatever he want to do and his ministry will support completely. He has announced the same to CoaI India and other PSUs under power sector.

Goyal’s comments has come after the Niti Aayog recently submitted two separate list of state-run companies to Prime minister for dealing with sick units and those PSUs where strategic sale is possible. Under strategic sale of PSUs, government wants to reduce its stake to 49 per or below and wants it to be privatized.

For the current financial year, the government has set a disinvestment target of Rs 56,500 crore for the fiscal. Of this, Rs 36,000 crore is to come from minority stake sale in PSUs and Rs 20,500 crore from strategic sale.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8181.25, up by 11.05 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 8107.35 and 8203.85. There were 28 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech. up by 2.81%, Infosys up by 1.64%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.60%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.50% and TCS up by 1.37%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 1.51%, Asian Paints down by 1.18%, Lupin down by 1.05%, Bharti Infratel down by 0.94% and Aurobindo Pharma down by 0.93% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.57%, KOSPI Index surged 1.47%, Taiwan Weighted gained 0.62%, Hang Seng strengthened 1.1% and Nikkei 225 was up by 2.43%. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite decreased 0.19% and Jakarta Composite was down by 0.04%.