Markets add some gains in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks added some gains in the late afternoon session on back of buying by funds and retail investors. Sentiments remained upbeat with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the government is ‘running against time’ for the implementation of GST, but added that he would certainly like to give it a try. Traders took some support with better-than-expected Chinese trade data boosted shares such as Tata Steel. Meanwhile, Firm opening in European counter too supported local sentiment. European markets were trading mostly in green, as investors remained cautious ahead of the European Central Bank (ECB)’s monetary policy decision later in the global day.

Back home, the markets gained some momentum as buying interests has been witnessed in sectors like metal, realty, auto and capital goods. In scrip specific development, IRB Infrastructure Developers surged after IRB InvIT Fund, an infrastructure investment trust, has filed draft red herring prospectus with the Sebi for Rs 4,300 crore initial public offering (IPO).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28978.26, up by 51.90 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 28854.56 and 29018.75. 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 0.05%, while Small cap index was up by 0.73%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.72%, Consumer Durables up by 0.87%, Metal up by 0.80%, Auto up by 0.77% and Capital Goods up by 0.77%, while IT down by 2.68%, TECK down by 1.98% and Bankex down by 0.15% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 3.25%, Tata Steel up by 3.23%, Hero MotoCorp up by 3.02%, Sun Pharma Inds up by 2.64% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.94%. On the flip side, TCS down by 5.62%, Wipro down by 2.00%, Infosys down by 1.94%, GAIL India down by 1.89% and Tata Motors down by 1.04% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, following NITI Aayog’s recommendation, government is now preparing a detailed guideline for sale of fixed assets such as land, building, machinery held by 26 sick and loss-making Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) that are likely to be considered for shutdown. Specific guidelines in this regard will be issued by the Department of Public Enterprises and assets of the loss-making PSUs would be sold through e-auction.

These lands of sick PSUs being considered for closure are either on lease or freehold with central public sector enterprises (CPSEs). If the land is on lease, the lessee will decide its fate, but if it is freehold, the CPSE would have to first approach the respective state government for using it for public purpose.

There are 74 loss-making and sick PSUs identified by the NITI Aayog. Of these, 26 have been recommended for closure, five are on lease - which can be either given to the private sector or state governments which mostly include hotels.  Of the remaining, three PSUs need to be merged with their parent companies.  The government aims to collect Rs 56,500 crore through disinvestment in PSUs this fiscal, as per the Union budget for 2016-17. Of the total budgeted proceeds, Rs 36,000 crore is estimated to come from minority stake sale in PSUs and the remaining Rs 20,500 crore from strategic sale in both profit and loss-making companies.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8930.75, up by 12.80 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 8896.00 and 8940.85. There were 35 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 3.52%, Tata Steel up by 3.40%, Hero MotoCorp up by 3.14%, Grasim Industries up by 2.79% and Sun Pharma Inds up by 2.79%. On the flip side, TCS down by 5.39%, Yes Bank down by 4.72%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.45%, GAIL India down by 2.05% and HCL Tech. down by 2.02% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.13 points or 0.07% to 1,690.70, KOSPI Index jumped 1.85 points or 0.09% to 2,063.73, Taiwan Weighted was up by 3.82 points or 0.04% to 9,262.89, Shanghai Composite increased 4.03 points or 0.13% to 3,095.95 and Hang Seng surged 177.53 points or 0.75% to 23,919.34. On flip side, Nikkei 225 declined 53.67 points or 0.32% to 16,958.77 and Jakarta Composite decreased 9.93 points or 0.18% to 5,371.43.

European markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC increased 4.82 points or 0.11% to 4,562.48 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 40.19 points or 0.59% to 6,886.77. On other hand, Germany’s DAX decreased 0.62 points or 0.01% to 10,752.36.