Benchmarks continue firm trade in late morning session

After getting a gap-up start, Indian equity benchmark continue to trade firm in late morning session on sustained buying activities by both funds and retail investors, tracking firm global markets buoyed by a better-than-expected US jobs data. The strong US economic data no longer stokes worries of rate hike given the fact that the Federal Reserve would watch for the Brexit impact before making any move on the interest rates.  On the domestic front, the increasing possibility of GST approval as Congress indicates softening of its stand and satisfactory progress of the monsoon in the country so far, have also improved sentiment. Around 89% of the country has received normal and excess rainfall, owing to a good amount of monsoon in several parts, while large parts of Gujarat have recorded deficiency of more than half. Overall, the country has recorded 254 mm of rainfall from June 1 to July 10, as against 251 mm, which is one percent more.  Furthermore, aiming to double farmers' income in the next five years, the Centre is chalking out a national action plan to attract more foreign investment in the dairy sector. The Department of Animal Husbandry under the aegis of Agriculture Ministry is holding a series of discussion with private players in this regard.  Some support also came with NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya’s statement that the government has put the economy on the path of reform to achieve a high growth trajectory though there are significant lags between policy decisions and outcomes which need to be addressed. He also mentioned that today, the economy is far healthier compared to the last year of UPA II in all macroeconomic parameters.

On the global front, Asian stock markets rallied on Monday as investors turned optimistic after an encouraging US jobs data indicated signals of growth in the world's economy. The US Labor Department's jobs report said non-farm payroll employment surged up by 287,000 jobs in June versus economist estimates for an increase of about 180,000 jobs. Further, shares in Japan gained the most after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition clinched victory in the upper house elecions, while a softer yen also aided sentiment. Back home, all BSE sectoral indices were trading in the green, among them, Auto index gained the most by 2.10 per cent, followed by Realty 1.96 per cent, Power 1.94 per cent and Banking 1.91 per cent.

In scrip specific development, shares of Dishman Pharmaceuticals & Chemcials have surged after the company announced that inspection of its Bavla plant has been successfully completed by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). Moreover, Bharti Airtel gained after the company received the clearance from the Indian telecom ministry for 4G spectrum trading deal with Aircel.

The market breadth remained optimistic as there were 1672 shares on the gaining side against 602 shares on the losing side, while 125 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27571.00, up by 444.10 points or 1.64% after trading in a range of 27358.23 and 27612.86. All the 30 stocks were advancing on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.37%, while Small cap index was up by 1.04%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 2.10%, Realty up by 1.96%, Power up by 1.94%, Bankex up by 1.91% and Metal up by 1.73%, while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 4.00%, ICICI Bank up by 3.39%, Power Grid up by 3.21%, NTPC up by 2.71% and Maruti Suzuki up by 2.65%, while there were no losers on the Sensex.

meanwhile, opposing the government’s move to adopt a new financial year by changing it from April-March, industry body, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has said that the move to change the financial year will cause a "huge avoidable disruption" at a big cost to business. It has argued that said change in the financial year will mean a change in the entire infrastructure of accounting software, taxation systems and human resource practices which will involve huge costs.

The industry body further said that, 'In any case, different countries follow different financial years and there is no standard accounting practice for the world. So, change to any other calendar would not result in India's aligning itself with the world.” Besides, even within the domestic economy, there is no solid reason for the unnecessary change. Elaborating his view further, Assocham said the existing 'fiscal year is even co-terminus with the academic years' in schools and universities. Henceforth the sudden change would create unnecessary hurdles and bureaucratic and systemic delays as at this point of time, India cannot allow any such disruptions.

Recently, the government has set up a four-member committee headed by former Chief Economic Adviser Shankar Acharya to examine the desirability and feasibility of having a new financial year. It has been asked to submit its report by December 31. As per the government, the current financial year does not allow budget makers to make an assessment of the monsoon does not hold well. Commenting on this Assocham said that even if the fiscal year is changed to January-December and the Budget is presented sometime in October, the monsoon effect would be clear only for the running year. But then, the Budget is done for the next year for which dependence would continue on the weather forecast.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8448.05, up by 124.85 points or 1.50% after trading in a range of 8407.05 and 8462.15. There were 49 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 3.79%, Power Grid up by 3.68%, ICICI Bank up by 3.24%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.95% and NTPC up by 2.60%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 0.39% and HCL Tech down by 0.37% were the losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in green, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 0.51%, KOSPI Index was up by 1.36%, Shanghai Composite was higher by 1.03 %, Jakarta Composite was up by 1.52%, Taiwan Weighted added 1.53%, Hang Seng was higher by 1.67% and Nikkei 225 surged by 4.17%.