Benchmarks trade in fine fettle; Sensex reclaims 28,100 mark

After making a flat start, domestic bourses gained momentum and are trading in fine fettle in early deals, recapturing their crucial 28,100 (Sensex) and 8,650 (Nifty) bastions, as sentiment remained up-beat with the government listing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill in the Rajya Sabha for consideration and passage on Wednesday. Traders also took some encouragement with India's core sector expanding 5.2 per cent in June compared with a 2.8 per cent rise in May and 3.1 per cent in the year ago period. The growth was the fastest in two months riding on double digit growth in the cement and coal sector. Buying in auto counter too aided sentiment led by 1-2% rally in auto majors like Maruti Suzuki and M&M after registering strong growth in domestic sales in July on improved consumer sentiment. Maruti Suzuki clocked its highest-ever monthly sales in July, reporting a growth of 13.9%, while M&M reported a 14% rise in total sales to 39,458 units in July.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red at this point of time, as the oil dropped further. The Japanese market was leading the losers pack ahead of details on the government’s fiscal stimulus plans. The US markets continued their consolidation run and made another mixed closing in last session, with the major averages bouncing back and forth the neutral line, and traders remained reluctant to make any significant moves ahead of some key events later this week.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28123.70, up by 120.58 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 28000.94 and 28175.22. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.57%, while Small cap index was up by 0.25%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.38%, Auto up by 1.00%, Consumer Durables up by 0.43%, Capital Goods up by 0.40% and IT up by 0.35%, while Metal down by 0.29% was the lone losing index on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 2.21%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.00%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.29%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.09% and Sun Pharma up by 1.05%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 0.83%, HDFC down by 0.72%, ICICI Bank down by 0.60%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.47% and Coal India down by 0.40% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has sought Parliament's approval for additional spending of Rs 1.03 lakh crore in the current fiscal. The first supplementary demand for grants presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, proposing spending with net cash outgo of only Rs 20,948 crore, of which Rs 5,000 crore is for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

The Demands for Grants include 51 grants and one appropriation.  Arun Jaitley sought approval for transfer of Rs 5,000 crore towards National Employment Guarantee Fund and Rs 1,000 crore for providing funds to Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves for Sovereign Strategic Crude Oil Reserve at Vizag, Mangalore and Pudur. The Demands for Grants also include Rs 40,000 crore as Ways and Means Advance to Food Corporation of India (FCI) to meet the working capital requirements towards procurement of food grain for targeted public distribution system.

Jaitley also sought approval for additional assistance of Rs 2,000 crore to states affected by natural calamities like hailstorm and non-seasonal rain under National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). Among other sectors, the government sought Parliament's approval for providing Rs 31,957 crore to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways under various heads.

Finance Ministry sought approval of Parliament to authorise gross additional expenditure of Rs 1,03,013.74 crore, of this, the proposals involving net cash outgo aggregates to Rs 20,948.26 crore and gross additional expenditure. This is in addition to the total expenditure of Rs 19.78 lakh crore, consisting of Rs 5.50 lakh crore under Plan and Rs 14.28 lakh crore under Non-Plan, projected in the Union Budget 2016-17.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8670.30, up by 33.75 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 8635.30 and 8687.20. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 3.13%, ITC up by 2.11%, Bharti Infratel up by 1.91%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.84% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.62%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 1.68%, Ambuja Cement down by 1.49%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.40%, Lupin down by 1.18% and ICICI Bank down by 0.96% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 150.72 points or 0.91% to 16,485.05, Taiwan Weighted slipped 18.97 points or 0.21% to 9,061.74, KOSPI Index declined 9.23 points or 0.45% to 2,020.38 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 6.82 points or 0.41% to 1,658.41.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 0.74 points or 0.03% to 2,954.13, Jakarta Composite rose 17.2 points or 0.32% to 5,378.77 and Hang Seng was up by 237.77 points or 1.09% to 22,129.14.