Benchmarks hover near highest point of the day

Indian equity benchmarks added strength and continued their firm trade hovering near the highest point of the day in the late morning session reacting to the minutes of Federal Reserve. Market participants interpreted the minutes as moderately positive for risk-taking appetite, with the Fed remaining divided on the timing of the next rate hike. The sentiments got some support with Jharkhand becoming the third state to ratify the Goods and Services Tax Amendment Bill in a special session of the Legislative Assembly. The state of Assam and Bihar had already passed the GST Bill. The government has set a deadline of April 2017 for its rollout. Investors took note that government has initiated an exercise to update ‘Make in India’ action plan. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Secretary Ramesh Abhishek said that the commerce and industry ministry has reviewed the action plan with all departments and has also discussed it with all stakeholders, including industry associations. The ‘Make in India’ programme was launched in September 2014 with an aim to make the country a global manufacturing hub and attract investments. Traders were seen piling position in Bankex, Power and Auto stocks, while selling was witnessed in Metal and Capital Goods sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Gammon India was trading firm as the company has bagged a Civil Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) order worth Rs 869.99 crore from National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

On the global front, Asian stocks rose and the greenback languished near two-month lows after minutes showed policymakers were in no rush to raise interest rates. Rating agency Moody’s Investors Service raised its forecasts for China’s economic growth in the wake of significant fiscal and monetary stimulus policies. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,650 and 28,100 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1436:632, while 122 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28192.31, up by 186.94 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 28077.00 and 28214.17. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.42%, while Small cap index was up by 0.80%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.29%, Power up by 1.15%, Auto up by 0.82%, Realty up by 0.79% and PSU up by 0.65%, while Metal down by 0.22% and Capital Goods down by 0.13% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid Corporation up by 3.15%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 2.85%, ICICI Bank up by 1.60%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.38% and Tata Motors up by 1.26%.

On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.58%, Tata Steel down by 0.89%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.73%, Wipro down by 0.61% and GAIL India down by 0.57% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, inter-ministerial body, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) will consider 12 foreign investment proposals, including those of BNP Paribas Asset Management lndia and Sharekhan on August 30. The FIPB headed by Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das will also look into other proposals like Willmar Schwabe lndia, SAET lndia, Bashundhara Paper Mills India and Whizdm lnnovations. There are 12 investment proposals on the agenda.

India allows FDI in most of the sectors through automatic route but the investments in certain sectors are cleared by the FIPB. FDI proposals of Rs 5,000 crore and beyond require approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. In 2015-16 fiscal, the FDI inflows in the country grew by 29 per cent to $ 40 billion as against $ 30.93 billion in 2014-15. FDI for 2015-16 was the highest since 2000-01. The services segment attracted the highest investments of $ 6.88 billion followed by computer hardware and software of $5.90 billion, trading business of $3.84 billion and automobile industry of $ 2.52 billion.
 
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8683.15, up by 59.10 points or 0.69% after trading in a range of 8645.05 and 8690.70. There were 41 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid Corporation up by 3.15%, IndusInd Bank up by 2.82%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 2.62%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.07% and Bank of Baroda up by 1.59%.

On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.58%, Tata Steel down by 1.03%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.80%, Wipro down by 0.52% and Asian Paints down by 0.50% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 10.23 points or 0.5% to 2,053.98, Shanghai Composite increased 14.37 points or 0.46% to 3,123.93, Jakarta Composite increased 68.98 points or 1.28% to 5,440.82 and Hang Seng increased 361.26 points or 1.58% to 23,161.04.

On the other hand, Nikkei 225 decreased 168.27 points or 1% to 16,577.37, Taiwan Weighted decreased 8.57 points or 0.09% to 9,109.13 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.43 points or 0.08% to 1,692.89.