Markets trade in green in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their trade in green in the afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. Sentiments got some support after Moody’s Investors Service retained India’s growth forecast at 7.5% for 2016 and also stated that the outlook for emerging markets economies stabilized on account of the modest recovery in commodity prices, better capital flows and a better near-term outlook for growth in China.  However, weakness in Indian rupee dampened sentiment. The rupee was trading weak at 66.92 against the dollar, down by 11 paise, as investors await the announcement of the next RBI governor, a post that will fall vacant on September 4. Traders were seen piling position in Metal, Consumer Durables, PSU, Bankex and Capital Goods stock, while selling was witnessed in TECK and IT sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Wipro inched up marginally on news the country's third largest software services provider has invested $1.5 million to acquire a minority stake in Israeli cyber security startup Intsights Cyber Intelligence. Moreover, ICICI Bank gained half a percent after launching a new payment service on smartphones.

On the global front, Asian markets were mostly lower, with some of the markets paring their early gains and drifting into negative territory, despite the modest gains on Wall Street and the surge in crude oil prices overnight.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28125.54, up by 2.10 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 28089.55 and 28212.30. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.66%, while Small cap index was up by 0.66%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.86%, Consumer Durables up by 0.72%, PSU up by 0.64%, Bankex up by 0.61% and Capital Goods up by 0.55%, while TECK down by 0.18% and IT down by 0.03% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 3.28%, ICICI Bank up by 1.03%, Cipla up by 0.89%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.73% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.60%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.49%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.92%, HDFC down by 0.73%, TCS down by 0.72% and Power Grid down by 0.63% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in the spirit of Co-operative federalism and in order to bring in the transparency and predictability in the Open Market Borrowings (OMBs) by the states, government has decided to simplify the consent mechanism for OMBs under Article 293 (3) of the Constitution. Finance Ministry said that under the simplified mechanism, states would be given one-time consent to borrow funds based on their borrowing calendar for the first nine months of the fiscal.

The simplified procedure will ensure that consent under Article 293 (3) is issued only on three occasions during the year, one in the month of April for first nine months after fixation of borrowing ceilings, second in the month of December for the first two months of the fourth quarter and last in the month of March after the assessment of actual borrowings by the States.

Ministry further said based on the assessment of details of borrowings and repayment thereof actual for first 3 quarters and estimates for last quarter, consent for the first two months of Fourth Quarter will be given. The consent for the last month that is March will be given based on the re-assessment of actual borrowings for the first 11 months by the States. Till now, states were required to obtain quarterly consent from the Central Government for raising OMBs within the Net Borrowing Ceiling fixed for each of the States as per the formula prescribed by the Fourteenth Finance Commission.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8680.65, up by 7.40 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 8663.35 and 8696.60. There were 30 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 3.36% and Hindalco up by 3.05%, Bank of Baroda up by 3.04%, Tata Power up by 1.56% and Ambuja Cement up by 1.36%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 1.64%, Coal India down by 1.61%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.20%, TCS down by 0.82% and Power Grid down by 0.80% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Taiwan Weighted decreased 88.23 points or 0.97% to 9,034.27, Hang Seng decreased 48.63 points or 0.21% to 22,974.53, Jakarta Composite decreased 5.54 points or 0.1% to 5,455.91 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 4.35 points or 0.26% to 1,690.52. On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 0.77 points or 0.04% to 2,056.24, Shanghai Composite increased 8.13 points or 0.26% to 3,112.25 and Nikkei 225 increased 59.81 points or 0.36% to 16,545.82.