Benchmarks maintain modest gains

Indian equity indices were maintain modest gains, hovering near their neutral lines in late afternoon session. Sentiments were buoyed by the positive Asian markets, coupled with short covering and value-buying. Sentiments got some support with Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that India's economy grew at 7.1 per cent in the first six months of the current financial year despite subdued growth in the world economy. She added that various steps is being taken to boost industrial production and growth which includes 'Make in India' and 'Startup India' initiatives, Liberalisation of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) policy and development of industrial corridors. On the global front, European markets were trading in red as oil extended Friday's steep losses on skepticism over OPEC's ability to reach an agreement to cut output and the dollar weakened sharply against major peers after its recent surge. Back home, banking sector stocks pared some losses but were still in red after the Reserve Bank introduced an incremental CRR of 100 per cent for the fortnight, two days back to absorb the increase in liquidity in banking system after demonetisation of high value notes.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26341.77, up by 25.43 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 26183.22 and 26405.72. There were 17 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index, while I stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.70%, while Small cap index was up by 0.59%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.40%, Oil & Gas up by 1.12%, FMCG up by 1.05%, Metal up by 0.88% and Realty up by 0.87%, while Bankex down by 1.09%, Consumer Durables down by 0.83% and IT down by 0.18% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 4.95%, Power Grid up by 2.37%, ITC up by 1.88%, Cipla up by 1.58% and ONGC up by 1.55%. On the flip side, SBI down by 2.49%, ICICI Bank down by 1.85%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.36%, HDFC down by 1.04% and Lupin down by 0.98% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in view of the problems faced by the transporters after the government’s decision to demonetize Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, the Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (Assocham) urged the government to consider among other relief measures, increasing the cash withdrawal limits for logistic and transport fleet owners as they need hard cash for meeting expenses for crew members including truck drivers and cleaners. It said that the note ban has come as a bottleneck to the transport business.

As per the latest Assocham study on Transport and Logistics, a close to 10 percent of the en route expenses of trucks on trunk routes are accounted for by drivers and other support crew for the journeys which take 7-8 days on a single trip. The study noted that the fuel accounts for 52-66 percent of the total trip expenses, another 25-40 percent are to be accounted for sub heads like tolls, octroi, speedy clearance at check posts etc. Hence, all this money is required in cash, the driver also acts as a petty cashier.

The industry body has suggested the government to review the cash withdrawal limit of Rs 50,000 from the current account per week and raise to minimum Rs 4-5 lakh, which is bare minimum. Besides, the fleet owners face other problems which need to be resolved for improving the overall efficiency of the fleet owners and ease of doing business. Faster turnaround of trucks alone in the absence of check posts may improve the operational efficiency of the road transport sector. According to the study, presently, there are 177 inter-state check posts and 268 toll barriers on national highways.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8119.65, up by 5.35 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 8066.50 and 8145.90. There were 29 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 5.25%, Idea Cellular up by 2.31%, BPCL up by 2.03%, Grasim Industries up by 1.99% and ITC up by 1.97%. On the flip side, Bank of Baroda down by 3.13%, SBI down by 2.51%, ICICI Bank down by 1.96%, IndusInd Bank down by 1.86% and Yes Bank down by 1.60% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 2.63 points or 0.16% to 1,629.89, KOSPI Index advanced 3.67 points or 0.19% to 1,978.13, Shanghai Composite increased 15.06 points or 0.46% to 3,277.00, Taiwan Weighted climbed 63.17 points or 0.69% to 9,222.24 and Hang Seng was up by 107.12 points or 0.47% to 22,830.57. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 decreased 24.33 points or 0.13% to 18,356.89 and Jakarta Composite was down by 5.61 points or 0.11% to 5,116.50.

All the European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX slipped 108.22 points or 1.01% to 10,591.05, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 70.58 points or 1.03% to 6,770.17 and France’s CAC was down by 50.28 points or 1.1% to 4,499.99.