Sensex, Nifty regains momentum in late afternoon session

Indian equities regained momentum in the late afternoon session on back of buying in Realty, Oil & Gas, and PSU counters. Sentiment got some support with the IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde statement that India is embarking on significant reforms and will grow at more than 7 per cent. Some support also came with the report that Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has decided to invest 10% of its annual incremental deposits or an estimated Rs 13,000 crore in the current fiscal in equity exchange traded funds (ETFs). However, gains remained capped as traders remained worried about geo-political tension after India went ahead with surgical strike on terror base across LoC on Wednesday night. On global front, European stocks were trading on a sluggish note on Friday, as the initial excitement from an OPEC production cut deal faded and worries surrounding Germany's biggest lender continued to haunt investors.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27842.72, up by 15.19 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 27716.78 and 27904.04. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.65%, while Small cap index was up by 1.62%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.19%, Oil & Gas up by 1.59%, PSU up by 1.07%, Power up by 1.01% and Auto up by 0.82%, while there were no losing indices on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 3.33%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.92%, ONGC up by 1.57%, Power Grid up by 1.38% and Wipro up by 1.33%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 3.10%, Coal India down by 1.92%, ITC down by 1.26%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.09% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.87% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the latest report by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)-Centrum, has said that there is a potential to unlock $ 5-7 billion from assets in roads and power sectors in the next few years, after the government and market regulator SEBI eased norms for setting up of infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs).

The report said that in the next couple of years, InvITs are slated to pick up and have the potential of unlocking huge assets from primarily in the roads, transmission and renewable segments, adding that companies with a strong portfolio, steady revenue stream and a resilient track record can be potential candidates for this type of investment.

However, the report also noted that issuers may face challenge in obtaining a premium valuation for their assets which would depend upon a number of factors like sponsor credibility and experience, quality and revenue generation ability of underlying assets and government policies. Moreover, InvITs would be competing with similar domestic products such as alternate investment funds (AIF) which offer more operational flexibility and allow investors to invest in all forms of infra assets.

SEBI recently amended the regulations for InvITs and real estate investment trusts (REITs) to facilitate their growth. InvITs and REITs can now invest in a two-level special purpose vehicle (SPV) structure through the holding company. The holding company in both vehicles would have to distribute 100 per cent cash flows realised from the underlying SPVs and at least 90 per cent of the remaining cash flows. SEBI in August 2014 had introduced InvITs, an investment vehicle that would enable promoters to monetize completed assets.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8599.35, up by 8.10 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 8555.20 and 8617.65. There were 31 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Aurobindo Pharma up by 3.77%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.17%, GAIL India up by 3.16%, Bank of Baroda up by 2.78% and Grasim Industries up by 2.35%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 3.48%, Coal India down by 2.08%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.80%, ITC down by 1.44% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.22% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading in red; Hang Seng decreased 442.32 points or 1.86% to 23,297.15, Nikkei 225 slumped 243.87 points or 1.46% to 16,449.84, Taiwan Weighted dropped 104.05 points or 1.12% to 9,166.85, Jakarta Composite declined 48.46 points or 0.89% to 5,383.49, KOSPI Index fell 25.09 points or 1.21% to 2,043.63 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 11.08 points or 0.66% to 1,658.56. On flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 6.22 points or 0.21% to 3,004.70.

European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 146.86 points or 1.41% to 10,258.68, UK’s FTSE 100 declined 78.71 points or 1.14% to 6,840.71 and France’s CAC slumped 69.56 points or 1.57% to 4,374.28.