Benchmarks continue to trade in green in late morning session

After getting a gap-up start, Indian benchmark indices continued to trade in green in the late morning session amid renewed buying interest post robust first quarter earnings from some large corporate. Sentiment on the street improved on hopes that the long-awaited GST Bill may be passed in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament after the Cabinet on Wednesday cleared changes in the Constitutional Amendment bill. Investors also got some confidence with global rating agency Crisil’s report that India’s GDP growth could rise to 7.9 per cent because of good monsoon so far, with agriculture expected to grow by 4 per cent and consumer price inflation likely to be restricted to 5 per cent in 2016-2017. Besides, the strengthening rupee against the dollar and short-covering by participants with Thursday being the last trading session of the July series of derivative contracts also supported the up move.

On the global front, Asian stock markets were trading lower in early trade, as investors digested an upbeat Fed assessment of the US economy that raised the prospect of further rate hikes as they anticipate more stimulus from Japan. While policymakers at the U.S. central bank voted to keep interest rates unchanged, they noted that ‘near-term risks’ to the world's biggest economy have diminished. The Fed said the US job market has rebounded with signs that hiring is robust. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei share average declined after Wall Street ended lower and a stronger yen soured sentiment.

Back home, stocks from Realty, Consumer Durables and FMCG counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Capital Goods and information technology (IT) counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, Asian Paints rallied after the company posted robust earnings for the quarter ended June 2016. The company reported 18.47% rise in its consolidated net profit after taxes and share of profit of associates at Rs 552.56 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2016 as compared to Rs 466.42 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. On the other hand, Torrent Pharma declined after the company reported 59.83% fall in its net profit at Rs 337 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2016 as compared to Rs 839 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. The market breadth remained optimistic as there were 1400 shares on the gaining side against 702 shares on the losing side, while 138 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28109.36, up by 85.03 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 28064.90 and 28144.32. 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 0.68%, while Small cap index was up by 0.91%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.16%, Consumer Durables up by 1.02%, FMCG up by 0.61%, Auto up by 0.57% and PSU up by 0.49%, while Capital Goods down by 0.30%, IT down by 0.20% and Metal down by 0.16% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 6.73%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.83%, Sun Pharma up by 1.21%, Power Grid up by 1.02% and ITC up by 0.95%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.83%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.98%, Infosys down by 0.92%, Axis Bank down by 0.55% and Tata Motors down by 0.45% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing his confidence of country crossing the 8 percent growth mark, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya has said that a good monsoon with even rainfall distribution across regions will give a boost to farm sector and may push India's GDP growth over 8% mark in the current fiscal  from 7.6 % in 2015-16. He said 'I am very optimistic particularly encouraged by the monsoon. Monsoon will deliver this time. We can expect some pretty robust agriculture growth'. He added that if the agriculture growth does pan out on those lines that really makes growth rate can go up to 8 percent in the current fiscal on the back of a good monsoon.

Country’s economy grew by 7.9% in March quarter to consolidate its position as the fastest growing major economy, leaving behind China, with a five-year high growth rate of 7.6% for 2015-16 on robust manufacturing growth. The government had also said that the growth rate can go up to 8 percent in the current fiscal on the back of a good monsoon.

He further said that there are certain things which require aligning, for example the distinction between the Plan and Non-Plan expenditure. This will disappear starting 2017-18. But states that keep the planning (old process), they will then be free to choose what expenditure they want to classify as Plan expenditure at state levels and the government is not imposing anything on states. He also said that the proposals for the abolition of the Railway Budget and moving to a new financial year are still under consideration and no decision has been taken as of now.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8637.05, up by 21.25 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 8626.35 and 8648.65. There were 32 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 6.73%, Bharti Infratel up by 3.06%, Eicher Motors up by 2.60%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.78% and Sun Pharma up by 1.24%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.13%, Tata Steel down by 1.91%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.19%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.10% and Infosys down by 0.77% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 declined 1.11%, Hang Seng decreased 0.37%, Taiwan Weighted slipped 0.02%, Shanghai Composite fell 0.62%, KOSPI Index shed 0.35%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dropped 0.52% and Jakarta Composite was down by 0.11%.