Indian bourses trade firm; Sensex trades above 27500 mark

Indian frontline equity indices continues to trade on an optimistic note in noon session, as investors continue to hunt for badly beaten down but fundamentally strong bargains after the colossal damage done in last four back to back sessions. The benchmarks showed resilience and traded firmly above the psychological 8,500 (Nifty) and 27,500 (Sensex) levels, heading for the first close in the green zone in five trading sessions. Sentiments got a boost on the report that foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country grew by over 30 percent to $ 21.62 billion during the first half of 2016-17. During April-September of 2015-16, India received FDI worth $ 16.63 billion. Besides, firm global cues coupled, amid positive developments on US election front as the FBI said Hillary Clinton would not face charges over her use of a private e-mail server, added to the optimistic sentiments. Some support also came with the report that National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has pegged India's GDP growth at 7.6 percent for the current fiscal on back of pick-up in rural demand and positive signals on the manufacturing front. Adding the optimum among the investors London's Deputy Mayor for business Rajesh Agarawal today said no country can overlook India which is emerging as a strong country with a galloping economic growth rate. He also said that India and UK have business and cultural ties for centuries and due to this Indians enjoy good influence in various sectors in UK.

On the global front, the Asian markets traded on a positive note on Monday, as investors turned optimistic after the FBI said it stood by its earlier recommendation that no criminal charges were warranted against Democrat Hillary Clinton. The news lifted a cloud over Clinton's presidential campaign two days before the U.S. election and boosted S&P 500 Index futures by 1.2 percent, a gain that is likely to snap a nine-day losing streak in the US stock index - it’s longest in more than 35 years. Further, Japanese market has advanced over a percent as a weaker yen boosted investors sentiments after dollar strengthened on latest FBI report.

Back home, all BSE sectoral indices were trading in the green. Among them, Realty index gained the most by 1.77 per cent, followed by PSU 1.76 per cent, Metal 1.44 per cent and Oil & Gas 1.39 per cent. In scrip specific development, Lupin has surged on the report that the company received Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from the US health regulator for its Goa plant leading to closure of all outstanding inspections of the facility. Moreover, Seshasayee Paper & Boards has edged higher, after the company reported an over four-fold jump in net profit at Rs 30.70 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2016.

The market breadth remained optimistic as there were 1994 shares on the gaining side against 511 shares on the losing side, while 90 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27506.26, up by 232.11 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 27456.41 and 27591.15. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.52%, while Small cap index was up by 1.69%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.77%, PSU up by 1.76%, Metal up by 1.44%, Oil & Gas up by 1.39% and Bankex up by 1.38%, while there were no losers on BSE sectoral front. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Lupin up by 6.39%, SBI up by 2.88%, ITC up by 2.81%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.80% and Sun Pharma up by 1.74%. On the flip side, TCS down by 0.95%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.81%, HDFC down by 0.41%, Wipro down by 0.32% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.21% were the top losers.

Meanwhile,  India’s economic think-tank, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has pegged India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth at 7.6 percent for the fiscal year 2016-17, backed by pick-up in rural demand and positive signals’ on the manufacturing front. It said that the anticipated improvement in the agricultural sector and the associated increase in rural demand will push the economic growth upward.

NCAER said that the manufacturing sector is giving positive signals with Purchasers' Managers Index (PMI), Index of Industrial Production for core sectors and auto sales going up and the domestic aviation sector growth continues to be a robust. However, other service index indicators continue to be muted. Food inflation is also showing signs of dampening in the latter part of the second quarter. However, fuel inflation may revive. Although urban demand is predicted to remain strong, external demand continues to be volatile.

Economic think-tank estimated that the output of kharif food grains is expected to revive with an increase of 10 to 11 percent over last year's output of 124 million tonnes. It further said that India's fiscal position remained under stress during first half of the current fiscal. It added that despite healthy growth in tax revenues, the combination of rising expenditure and lower-than-expected non-tax revenues is likely to ‘test the government's resolve’ to abide by the fiscal deficit target set out in Budget 2016-17.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8516.20, up by 82.45 points or 0.98% after trading in a range of 8493.65 and 8535.85. There were 41 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Lupin up by 6.31%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 6.09%, Bank of Baroda up by 3.93%, BHEL up by 3.49% and BPCL up by 3.12%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 1.94%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.97%, TCS down by 0.93%, Wipro down by 0.42% and HDFC down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 0.05%, Jakarta Composite rose 0.13%, Shanghai Composite jumped 0.24%, KOSPI Index advanced 0.81%, Taiwan Weighted surged 1.34%, Hang Seng added 0.58% and Nikkei 225 was up by 1.49%.