Benchmarks make positive start; Nifty reclaims 8,500 mark

Indian equity benchmarks have made a positive start and are trading slightly in green in early deals on Tuesday, tracking a rally in global stocks after recent estimates indicate that Hillary Clinton is most likely to emerge victorious in the US presidential elections. Some support also came with report that foreign institutional investors turned buyers on Monday with net equity purchases of Rs 311 crore, while domestic institutional investors also bought equities worth Rs 780 crore.

Global cues too remained supportive with Asian markets rallying at this point of time on reports that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is most likely to win the US election boosted investor sentiment. The US markets surged in last session and all the major averages posted their biggest one-day percentage gain since March 01. Back home, stocks related to auto industry remained in focus after it discussed with Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, the rate of cess and definition of luxury cars under the GST regime, which is likely to kick in from next April.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27471.53, up by 12.54 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 27469.65 and 27600.71. There were 15 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index, while 2 stocks remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.19%, while Small cap index was up by 0.29%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.80%, Industrials up by 0.78%, Metal up by 0.60%, TECK up by 0.53% and IT was up by 0.53%, while Healthcare down by 0.60%, FMCG down by 0.55%, Capital Goods down by 0.31%, Energy down by 0.11% and Realty was down by 0.02% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 3.90%, ICICI Bank up by 2.35%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.23%, TCS up by 0.95% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.53%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.37%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.21%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.16%, ITC down by 1.13% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.99% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that private sector expansion is needed in a big way to let the economy start firing on all cylinders. He said that public investment and foreign capital on which the economy is firing are intact and domestic investment is still a challenge. After monitoring that the domestic investment still continues to be a challenge, he urged the banking sector to support private investment in order to push growth.

Jaitley emphasized that foreign investors are getting far greater returns on their investment in India than any other country. He further said there is a ‘silver lining’ visible with festive purchases, indicating upturn in rural and urban demand, but domestic investment will have to pick up in a big way for which banks need to do their bit by supporting corporates and thus boosting growth. He termed the role of the banks in this regard as ‘extremely significant’ as their credit and investments have to pick up.

On unusual delays in settlement of debt recovery cases, the minister pointed to the need for increasing efficiency in such matters that are adjudicated by judicial or quasi-judicial bodies. Stressing that debt recovery is of prime importance to the Indian economy, the minister explained that delays in settlement of such cases hurt larger investment environment of the country as the funds blocked by defaulters could have been utilized by other borrowers for productive purposes.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8507.10, up by 10.05 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 8504.10 and 8543.15. There were 27 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index, while 2 stocks remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 4.22%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 3.84%, BHEL up by 2.52%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.52% and ICICI Bank up by 2.35%. On the flip side, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.18%, Sun Pharma down by 1.08%, ITC down by 1.07%, HDFC down by 1.02% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.00% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in green; Nikkei 225 rose 1.7 points or 0.01% to 17,178.91, KOSPI Index increased 3.28 points or 0.16% to 2,000.86, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 6.56 points or 0.4% to 1,657.15, Taiwan Weighted advanced 9.75 points or 0.11% to 9,199.59, Shanghai Composite jumped 19.19 points or 0.61% to 3,152.52, Jakarta Composite surged 58.19 points or 1.08% to 5,444.40 and Hang Seng was up by 82.02 points or 0.36% to 22,883.42.