Benchmarks trade slightly in green in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks have trimmed losses started showing some upmove in the afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. Sentiments got some support with signs of the centre and states, moving towards rolling out GST from April 1, agreeing on a timetable for deciding on the tax rate and completion of legislative work. Some support also came with Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal’s statement that the new indirect tax regime is a major tool for improving ease of doing business and that the government will be able to implement GST from April 1, next year. Further, appreciation in Indian rupee too supported the sentiments. In scrip specific development, Telecom majors Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular slid about half a percent each after Vodafone Plc infused $7.5 billion (Rs 47,700 crore) in its Indian arm as part of efforts to expand infrastructure and ward off competition from rivals.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red on Friday as the US dollar strengthened and oil retreated from a two-week high on oversupply concerns ahead of next week's OPEC meeting. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28779.91, up by 6.78 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 28714.93 and 28825.09. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.78%, while Small cap index added 0.73%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.19%, Realty up by 0.97%, Metal up by 0.69%, PSU up by 0.67% and Capital Goods up by 0.46%, while Bankex down by 0.43% and FMCG down by 0.39% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 1.33%, Reliance Industries up by 1.09%, Cipla up by 0.95%, TCS up by 0.69% and Asian Paints up by 0.66%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 3.89%, Lupin down by 1.61%, ITC down by 0.72%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.58% and ICICI Bank down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India Inc's external commercial borrowing (ECBs) rose over four times to $ 3.17 billion in August 2016, as compared to that of $750.77 million raised in a year ago period. The borrowings were in combination of automatic and approval route both.

As per the RBI data, of the total borrowing, $ 586.57 million were raised via the approval route while $ 2.59 billion was generated through the automatic route. The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust was the major fund raiser in approval route, worth $ 400 million for sub-lending, for a maturity period of seven years and six months and Jet Airways raised $ 185 million for its working capital needs for a maturity period of approximately five years.

Among major borrowers in the automatic route, Export Import Bank of India mopping up $ 1 billion for sub-lending, Adani Transmission raised $ 500 million for refinancing of rupee loans (84 per cent and refinancing of earlier ECB (16 per cent), NTPC raised $ 298.77 million for power projects, Gail (India) raised $ 300 million, IL&FS Transportation Networks raised $ 80 million for sub-lending and HDFC raised $ 74.69 million for further lending purposes.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8872.20, up by 4.75 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 8847.40 and 8885.20. There were 32 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BHEL up by 2.18%, HCL Tech. up by 1.74%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.53%, ONGC up by 1.45% and BPCL up by 1.19%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 3.94%, Lupin down by 1.67%, ACC down by 1.44%, ITC down by 0.90% and Ambuja Cement down by 0.85% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 53.6 points or 0.32% to 16,754.02, Jakarta Composite declined 8.67 points or 0.16% to 5,371.59, Shanghai Composite decreased 4.54 points or 0.15% to 3,037.77 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.75 points or 0.04% to 1,668.91.

On the other hand, KOSPI Index increased 4.37 points or 0.21% to 2,054.07, Hang Seng was up by 9.61 points or 0.04% to 23,769.41 and Taiwan Weighted increased 49.36 points or 0.53% to 9,284.62.