Benchmarks continue to trade with good gains in late noon trade

Indian equity markets continue to trade buoyant for the fifth straight session in late noon trade on Friday, amid continued foreign fund inflows and with investors building more bets on blue chip counters. Sentiments got a boost with the World Bank’s statement that India is 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.  However, there was some cautiousness too, with the report that eight core sector output grew at a five month low of 2.8 per cent in May, down from a four-year high of 8.5 per cent in April. Also Fiscal deficit in April-May of 2016-17 was Rs 2.28 lakh crore, which is 42.9 per cent of Budget estimate, much higher than the year-ago period.

Though, the beginning of the July series derivatives contracts and positive global conditions kept mood upbeat. Asian counters were trading mostly in green at this point of time, as investors resumed buying in riskier assets after near term worries post the Brexit continued to ease. Back home, in scrip specific development, ITC shares hit new 52-week high of Rs 258.85, while Jet Airways shed 1.5 per cent after reports that the company is looking to raise $180 million via loans.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27196.55, up by 196.83 points or 0.73% after trading in a range of 27061.40 and 27243.36. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.27%, while Small cap index added 0.85%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.98%, Oil & Gas up by 1.76%, FMCG up by 1.70%, PSU up by 1.21%, Power up by 1.04%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 3.21%, ITC up by 2.87%, GAIL India up by 2.60%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.45% and Tata Steel up by 2.27%. On the flip side, TCS down by 0.66%, Coal India down by 0.61%, HDFC down by 0.47%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.43% and Asian Paints down by 0.36% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, giving some respite and snapping the rising trend, the PSU Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have cut the price of petrol and diesel by 89 paise a litre and 49 paise a litre respectively, in order to align the domestic rates of the two automobile fuels with global price benchmarks. This is the first decrease in rates in two months.

The price cut is inclusive of state levies and will vary from State to State and will be effective midnight June 30/July 1.Following the revision, petrol in the national capital will cost Rs 64.76 a litre as compared to Rs 65.65 per litre currently. Similarly, diesel will cost Rs 54.70 per litre as against Rs 55.19 a litre currently.In the last revision on June 16, petrol price was hiked by 5 paise a litre and diesel by Rs 1.26 a litre. Petrol prices in the four hikes since May 1, had moved up by Rs 4.52 a litre, while diesel rates had gone up by Rs 7.72 per litre. Apart from an exemption on April 16, when price of petrol was cut by 74 paise a litre and diesel by Rs 1.30, the upward trend in rates had been a phenomenon since March 17.

According to IOC the country's largest fuel retailer, the hike in prices is due to the movement in the international oil market and INR-USD exchange rate. The three PSU OMCs, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) revise rates of the fuel on 1st and 16th of every month based on the average oil price and the foreign exchange rate in the preceding fortnight

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8345.35, up by 57.60 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 8308.65 and 8356.75. There were 40 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 3.48%, BHEL up by 2.94%, GAIL India up by 2.77%, ITC up by 2.75% and Larsen & Toubro up by 2.47%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.22%, TCS down by 0.73%, Coal India down by 0.58%, HDFC down by 0.49% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.48% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading in green, Shanghai Composite increased 3.22 points or 0.11% to 2,932.82, KOSPI Index jumped 16.97 points or 0.86% to 1,987.32, Taiwan Weighted rose 71.66 points or 0.83% to 8,738.24, Nikkei 225 gained 106.56 points or 0.68% to 15,682.48, Hang Seng was up by 358.25 points or 1.75% to 20,794.37. While, Jakarta Composite decreased 32.88 points or 0.66% to 4,983.76, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down 6.67 points or 0.4% to 1,647.41