Bulls tighten grip in early deals; Sensex reclaims 28,100 mark

Buoyed by firm global cues, Indian equity benchmarks are trading jubilantly in early deals with frontline gauges recapturing their crucial 28,100 (Sensex) and 8,650 (Nifty) levels. Traders remained optimistic, ahead of the key macro data of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation slated to be announced after the market hours. Appreciation in Indian rupee too aided sentiments. Indian rupee was trading 4 paise up at 66.80 against the US dollar in early deals, as exporters and banks took to mild selling of American currency. Some support also came with report that foreign institutional investors continued to remain buyers in equities with net purchases of Rs 608 crore on Thursday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

Global cues too remained supportive with Asian markets trading mostly in green at this point of time tracking sharp gains in US stocks which hit fresh record highs in overnight trades. Japanese shares gained the most on the back of a weaker yen and ahead of GDP data on Monday, while Chinese economic indicators that missed expectations did not dent gains in mainland shares.

Back home, there was broad based buying witnessed in the markets and apart from the blue chips, the broader markets too participated strongly in the rally. The market breadth remained in favor of advances, as there were 1,189 shares on the gaining side against 619 shares on the losing side while 79 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28117.61, up by 258.01 points or 0.93% after trading in a range of 27900.91 and 28148.56. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.76%, while Small cap index was up by 0.62%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.37%, Auto up by 1.37%, Industrials up by 1.34%, Capital Goods up by 1.32% and Bankex up by 1.02%, while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 2.57%, Tata Motors up by 2.37%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.96%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.79% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.68%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.66%, Infosys down by 0.12%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.12% and Cipla down by 0.01% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, recognizing that credit availability is a challenge for the MSMEs sector, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the amendments to the Companies Act, 2013 which is being considered by Parliament, will help ease institutional fund flow to the sector. He said that one of the key challenges for the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, which can be termed as the backbone of the Indian economy, is credit flow. 

He added that Amendment to the Companies Act, 2013 will help ease institutional fund flow to the MSMEs sector. Noting that MSMEs creates several times more jobs than the organised and large corporates, the FM said it is effort of the government to create conducive environment for the sector to grow.

Finance Minister (FM) lunched MSME Database portal and Finance Facilitation portal.  This database portal will help to save the efforts and money required for physical census as the previous census conducted in 2008 cost Rs 50 crore and is expected to be completed in just around Rs 1 crore.

MSME Minister Kalraj Mishra said MSME Database portal will not only help save the efforts and money required for physical census but will also enable the MSME units and the various association to furnish data on a clock of the button and sitting in their units. It will provide real time information on various types of the MSMEs registered on the databank. He further said a decision has been taken that no grant or subsidy will be given to any MSME unless the data is captured in the portal.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8658.60, up by 66.45 points or 0.77% after trading in a range of 8604.45 and 8671.25. There were 41 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.64%, Yes Bank up by 2.28%, Axis Bank up by 2.24%, Tata Motors up by 2.09% and Bank of Baroda up by 1.82%. On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 2.28%, BPCL down by 1.52%, Bosch down by 1.00%, Idea Cellular down by 0.68% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.64% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 3.95 points or 0.24% to 1,682.75, Jakarta Composite gained 6.8 points or 0.13% to 5,425.89, Shanghai Composite rose 7.07 points or 0.24% to 3,009.71, Taiwan Weighted advanced 20.08 points or 0.22% to 9,151.91, Nikkei 225 added 172.54 points or 1.03% to 16,907.66 and Hang Seng was up by 174.96 points or 0.77% to 22,755.51. On the flip side, KOSPI Index was down by 0.19 points or 0.01% to 2,048.61.