Markets continue to trade in fine fettle in early noon session

Indian equity markets continue to trade in fine fettle in early noon session on continued buying activities by both funds and retail investors amid firm global cues. Traders took some encouragement with the outcome of a monthly survey showing that manufacturing growth in India pointed to a further improvement last month supported by a stronger increase in new business inflows. The sentiments also got some support with World Bank’s statement that India is in a bright spot. The World Bank president has said that he is pleased with the progress that's been made in six priority areas. He added that Prime Minister Modi and his entire Cabinet have set extremely difficult and important targets. Besides, the beginning of the July series derivatives contracts and positive global conditions kept mood upbeat. In scrip specific development, Auto major Maruti Suzuki was down over 1% after the passenger car major reported weak June sales numbers. Passenger car sales in June 2016 were lower by 16% at 72,551 units compared with 86630 units in June 2015.

On the global front, Asian markets extended gains on Friday, as investors resumed buying in riskier assets after near term worries post the Brexit continue to ease. Meanwhile, Japanese currency yen eased after sharp gains recently. The Nikkei was up nearly 1% while Hang Seng gained nearly 2%.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27192.90, up by 193.18 points or 0.72% after trading in a range of 27061.40 and 27243.36. There were 24 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.18%, while Small cap index added 0.78%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.86%, FMCG up by 1.60%, Oil & Gas up by 1.53%, Metal up by 1.12% and PSU up by 0.99%, while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 2.79%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.67%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.42%, Tata Steel up by 2.24% and GAIL India up by 1.40%. On the flip side, TCS down by 0.76%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.55%, Coal India down by 0.40%, Asian Paints down by 0.26% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.11% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s fiscal deficit for the first two months of the fiscal stood at Rs 2.28 lakh crore or 42.9 per cent of Budget estimates for 2016-17, much higher as compared to the last year 2015-16 fiscal deficit for first two months, which was 37.5 per cent of the budget estimates.

As per the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) data, tax revenue was Rs 49,690 crore or 4.7 per cent of the estimate and total receipts (from revenue and non-debt capital) of the government during the two months was Rs 69,060 crore or 4.8 per cent of the estimates for the current year, whereas for 2015-16 it was 4.4 per cent of the estimates. The revenue deficit during the two month was over Rs 1.99 lakh crore or 56.2 per cent of the estimates.

Of the total expenditure, plan and non-plan spending was Rs 90,570 crore and Rs 2,07,476 crore respectively. For the 2016-17 year, the government aims to restrict fiscal deficit to Rs 5.33 lakh crore or 3.5 per cent of the GDP, compared to 3.9 per cent in 2015-16.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8344.45, up by 56.70 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 8308.65 and 8356.75. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.91%, BHEL up by 2.70%, ITC up by 2.65%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.44% and Tata Steel up by 2.39%. On the flip side, TCS down by 0.85%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.81%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.58%, Coal India down by 0.34% and Asian Paints down by 0.23% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading mostly in green, Shanghai Composite increased 6.61 points or 0.23% to 2,936.21,KOSPI Index increased 16.97 points or 0.86% to 1,987.32,Taiwan Weighted increased 71.66 points or 0.83% to 8,738.24,Nikkei 225 increased 106.56 points or 0.68% to 15,682.48, Hang Seng increased 358.25 points or 1.75% to 20,794.37,Jakarta Composite decreased 28.31 points or 0.56% to 4,988.33,FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 4.92 points or 0.3% to 1,649.16.