Markets continue to hold the gains in late afternoon deal

Indian equity Benchmarks held their gains, supported by firm buying in Realty, IT and metal shares. Sentiments remained upbeat with report that Finance Ministry officials are expected to pitch a ratings upgrade to Moody’s by stressing upon the various reform initiatives taken by the Narendra Modi government, including the goods and service tax, bankruptcy code, and inflation targeting through the monetary policy committee, among others. Some support also came with the DIPP Secretary Ramesh Abhishek’s statement that implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) is bound to be a “game changer” for India's manufacturing sector and will enhance ease of doing business in the country. Though, small amount of profit booking was witnessed at higher level, but 28600 (Sensex) and 8800 (Nifty) proved to be the strong support levels. Also, traders remained little cautious ahead of central bank meetings in the United States and Japan this week.

On the global front, European stocks opened higher as global markets await the start of tomorrow's meeting of the Federal Reserve's policymaking committee.

Back home, banking stock were trading higher after the global rating agency Moody’s said that India's banking system is moving past the worst of its asset quality down cycle, adding that this supports stable outlook for the sector over the next 12-18 months. In scrip specific developments, Gujarat Alkalies & Chemicals rose after the company inked pact with Chematur Engineering Sweden for forming 14000 mtpa H202 plant. On the other hand, Max Financial Services fell on report that Goldman Sachs was looking to sell 15% of its stake in the company for Rs.2,400 crore via secondary market trades.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28631.43, up by 32.40 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 28552.55 and 28714.77. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.52%, while Small cap index was up by 0.47%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.87%, Metal up by 0.79%, IT up by 0.74%, PSU up by 0.71% and TECK up by 0.68%, while FMCG down by 0.25%, Consumer Durables down by 0.08% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 2.25%, ICICI Bank up by 1.38%, Adani Ports &Special up by 1.20%, Asian Paints up by 1.13% and ONGC up by 1.09%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.06%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.89%, HDFC down by 0.77%, HDFC Bank down by 0.64% and ITC down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, government tasting the success of the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme, is planning to almost double the number of schemes under DBT to 147 by next March from 74 currently. Government has saved Rs 14,872 crore by offering subsidy on cooking gas (LPG) directly to consumers and DBT is now being extended to kerosene in over two dozen districts on pilot basis to save a part of the Rs 24000 crore subsidy outgo. It has also launched pilots for paying subsidy on food and fertiliser directly via bank accounts of beneficiaries.

Earlier, the Expenditure Management Commission (EMC), headed by former RBI Governor Bimal Jalan, had in its report, suggested rationalising and merging centrally-sponsored schemes and extending DBT to all subsidies and welfare payments. It had favoured expenditure reform and rationalisation rather than reduction.

Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa has said the government has implemented 30 per cent of the recommendations of the Expenditure Management Commission (EMC) that was set up to suggest reforms to overhaul the subsidy regime and lower fiscal deficit. Lavasa said that it is the food subsidy where we have been able to rationalise and bring it down. Similarly, in case of fertiliser subsidy, non urea subsidy there has been a reduction. Pilot is going on in kerosene and fertiliser. With regard to kerosene, he said more and more states are gradually turning to be kerosene free and are gradually shifting to LPG. Lavasa stated that through DBT, government hopes to achieve accurate targeting of beneficiaries, weed out duplication, curb leakages and bring efficiency in delivery process to help control expenditure and bring greater accountability and transparency.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8803.15, up by 23.30 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 8774.20 and 8822.35. There were 35 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were TCS up by 2.35%, Indusind Bank up by 1.80%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.60%, ONGC up by 1.46% and ICICI Bank up by 1.37%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.23%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.18%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.00%, Axis Bank down by 0.71% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.65% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.46 points or 0.03% to 1,653.45, KOSPI Index jumped 16.42 points or 0.82% to 2,015.78, Shanghai Composite gained 23.2 points or 0.77% to 3,026.05, Jakarta Composite climbed 49.55 points or 0.94% to 5,317.32, Nikkei 225 was up by 114.28 points or 0.7% to 16,519.29, Hang Seng increased 214.86 points or 0.92% to 23,550.45 and Taiwan Weighted surged 250.58 points or 2.81% to 9,152.88.

European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC jumped 52.26 points or 1.21% to 4,384.71, Germany’s DAX increased 81.31 points or 0.79% to 10,357.48 and UK’s FTSE 100 surged 82.69 points or 1.23% to 6,792.97.