Firm trade prevails in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their firm trade in the late morning session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments were on optimistic note with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that India was the fastest growing economy and that it can play a major role in providing strength to global economy that is facing slowdown. Investors are maintaining a cautious approach as the GST Council meet to reach a consensus on the GST rate structure ended without a decision on Wednesday. Most states objected to a proposal to levy an additional cess on demerit goods. The council would now meet on November 3 and 4. India’s finance minister Arun Jaitley however sounded confident about rolling out the proposed goods and services tax from next April even after a meeting between him and state finance ministers failed to break a deadlock on rates. The street may witness a lot of action as many companies are scheduled to announce their quarterly results today. Reliance Industries, YES Bank, Biocon and LIC Housing Finance would be among the 32 companies scheduled to report quarterly earnings during the day. Traders were seen piling up positions in Bankex, Realty and Metal stocks, while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, FMCG and Capital Goods sector stocks. In scrip specific development, RBL Bank was trading firm after reporting 34% rise in net profit for the quarter ended September 2016 to Rs 89.89 crore against net profit of Rs 66.93 crore for the same quarter in the previous year on the back of improved interest income.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher , propelled by strong US earnings and oil prices near a 15-month high, as the third and final US presidential debate before the November 8 election ended. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,700 and 28,100 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1481:793, while 158 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28161.41, up by 177.04 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 28031.57 and 28212.50. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.33%, while Small cap index was up by 0.61%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.43%, Realty up by 1.20%, Metal up by 1.14%, Consumer Durables up by 1.06% and Power up by 0.48%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.13%, FMCG down by 0.03% and Capital Goods down by 0.02% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 4.21%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 3.19%, HDFC up by 1.69%, SBI up by 1.41% and Axis Bank up by 1.33%.

On the flip side, ITC down by 0.42%, Sun Pharma down by 0.15%, Tata Motors down by 0.15%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.13% and GAIL India down by 0.05% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stated that India is capable of playing the significant role in providing strength to world economy that is facing slowdown. He said that at a time when world economy was facing slowdown like the one witnessed in 2008, India's economy was strong and was giving strength to world economy.

He also highlighted that Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) was vital for India’s economy and asked the small & medium industrialists to look beyond Indian markets and said that their focus should be to espouse global standard in quality control, and make their presence felt in international markets.. Modi added that despite two earlier years when there was drought and when agriculture production dropped considerably, it was the manufacturing sector, especially MSMEs, which ensured that country had a steady economic growth rate. He said that the central government was working to give boost to small and medium enterprises

He also encouraged small businesses to make products with ZED (zero defect & zero effect) on environment so it will help to improve the brand image of the country and urged entrepreneurs that they participate in ZED movement. Modi also launched ZED Certification Scheme for MSME and SC/ST Hub to provide support to entrepreneurs from the community. The idea behind the ZED scheme is to spur competition among small businesses and help them attain recognition in the international market.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8709.55, up by 50.45 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 8687.75 and 8727.00. There were 39 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 4.17%, Idea Cellular up by 4.00%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 3.15%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.90% and Hindalco up by 2.45%.

On the flip side, HCL Tech. down by 1.45%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 0.50%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.40%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.33% and ITC down by 0.29% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.85 points or 0.11% to 1,670.12, Jakarta Composite increased 2.32 points or 0.04% to 5,411.61, Taiwan Weighted increased 32.52 points or 0.35% to 9,316.51, Hang Seng increased 138.42 points or 0.59% to 23,443.39 and Nikkei 225 increased 178.45 points or 1.05% to 17,177.36.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite decreased 4.42 points or 0.14% to 3,080.30 and KOSPI Index decreased 0.24 points or 0.01% to 2,040.70.