Markets enter into positive territory in late afternoon session

The local benchmarks turned positive in late afternoon session with report stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reviewed preparations for roll out of the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, possibly from April 1 next year, with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and his team making a presentation on the milestones achieved and the road ahead. However, gains are capped on reports that in September, rainfall fell 15 per cent below average which could mean the season will end up in deficit. On global front, European markets were trading mostly in red ahead of today's Bank of England rates decision.

Back home, buying interests has been witnessed in sectors like FMCG, TECK and Realty. In scrip developments, Orient Paper & Industries has touched its 52-week high after the company board has decided to raise capital through rights issue of equity shares of the company for an amount aggregating to Rs 50 crore. Transformers and Rectifiers (India) has moved higher after the company received an order worth Rs 103 crore from Power Grid Corporation of India.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28406.13, up by 33.90 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 28311.11 and 28432.74. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.17%, while Small cap index was up by 0.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.06%, Realty up by 0.31% and TECK up by 0.02%, while Power down by 0.90%, Metal down by 0.89%, Bankex down by 0.82%, PSU down by 0.81% and Consumer Durables down by 0.80% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 2.10%, Cipla up by 1.53%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.30%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.94% and Reliance Industries up by 0.69%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.37%, Tata Steel down by 2.23%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.06%, Power Grid down by 1.76% and NTPC down by 1.38% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India Meteorological Department (IMD) had forecast ‘above normal’ rainfall in the country but is likely to fall flat as nearly 15 days left for the monsoon to end officially and current overall deficiency in the country is 5 percent. While 86 percent of the country has received ‘normal’ and ‘above normal’ rainfall, the figure may go down when withdrawal of the southwest monsoon will begin this week.

Last year’s monsoon was hit by El Nino. This year it was expected that there will be a gradual transition to La Nina phenomenon but that has not taken place and current phase could be described as neutral, instead of that India got lower rains in the second half. Further, according to IMD rainfall in September could be up to 15 percent less than average. Last month, Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency had lowered its forecast from 'above normal' to 'normal'. But the IMD had refused to make an amends in its forecast, saying an assessment could be made only after September 30.

The La Nina, which was expected to help monsoon, and give 'excess' rains in September is yet to start. El Nino is the unusual warming of sea-surface Pacific waters off the South American coast, while La Nina is the positive phase of the El Nino and is associated with cooler than average sea surface temperatures.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8737.75, up by 11.15 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 8704.35 and 8749.20. There were 23 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 2.89%, ITC up by 2.01%, Cipla up by 1.37%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.27% and BHEL up by 1.13%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 2.63%, Tata Steel down by 2.42%, Axis Bank down by 2.33%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.28% and Ambuja Cement down by 2.16% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 209.23 points or 1.26% to 16,405.01, Taiwan Weighted declined 38.53 points or 0.43% to 8,902.30, Shanghai Composite dropped 20.66 points or 0.68% to 3,002.85 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slumped 7.85 points or 0.47% to 1,653.54. On other hand, KOSPI Index increased 7.88 points or 0.4% to 1,999.36, Jakarta Composite surged 113.51 points or 2.21% to 5,259.55 and Hang Seng climbed 144.95 points or 0.63% to 23,335.59.

European markets were trading mostly in red; France’s CAC decreased 1.62 points or 0.04% to 4,368.64 and Germany’s DAX decreased 0.25 points or 0% to 10,378.15. On flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 6.81 points or 0.1% to 6,680.12.