Benchmarks trade in fine fettle in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks have made a positive start and are trading in fine fettle in early deals, with frontline gauges recapturing their crucial 26,400 (Sensex) and 8,150 (Nifty) levels. Sentiments remained up-beat despite the Indian economy’s growth rate slowed to a six-quarter low of 7.1 per cent. The Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that India has maintained a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 7.1 percent during April to September of 2016-17 over 7.6 percent in 2016-16 and 7.2 percent in 2014-15. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will introduce a Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Bill in Lok Sabha, which proposes a new voluntary disclosure and investment scheme, named Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) 2016. PMGKY will be notified after the Bill is passed by Parliament and receives Presidential Assent. Once the amendments are approved by Parliament, there would be a penalty of 30 per cent of unaccounted income, if admitted and taxes are paid.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mixed at this point of time with some of the indices trading marginally in red on concerns OPEC won’t get a deal done. The US markets ended lower in lasts session on profit taking, partly offsetting the strong gains posted last week. Trepidation ahead of a key OPEC meeting later this week also weighed on the markets. Back home, there was broad based buying witnessed in the markets and apart from the blue chips, the broader markets too participated strongly in the rally. The market breadth remained in favor of advances, as there were 1,471 shares on the gaining side against 388 shares on the losing side while 72 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26465.19, up by 115.02 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 26357.56 and 26509.30. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.92%, while Small cap index was up by 1.09%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.15%, Realty up by 1.11%, Telecom up by 1.04%, Consumer Durables up by 0.91% and Oil & Gas up by 0.84%, while IT down by 0.19% and Healthcare was down by 0.08% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 2.38%, HDFC up by 2.31%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.22%, GAIL India up by 1.82% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.43%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 0.72%, Power Grid down by 0.65%, Cipla down by 0.62%, Axis Bank down by 0.59% and Lupin down by 0.45% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, ahead of the last pre-demonetisation GDP figures, pertaining to the second quarter ending September, the government has informed that the Indian economy grew at 7.1 percent in the first six months of the current financial year despite subdued growth in the world economy. The Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that India has maintained a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 7.1 percent during April to September of 2016-17 over 7.6 percent in 2016-16 and 7.2 percent in 2014-15. In the first quarter ended June, the Indian economy`s growth rate slowed to a six-quarter low of 7.1 per cent.

She added that the government has been taking various steps 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. She also said that the primary responsibility of industrial growth of backward areas lies with the state governments, whereas the central government’s role is to supplement their efforts by way of various schemes.

The Minister said that during April-September, 2016-17, IIP (Index of Industrial Production) declined by 0.1 percent over April-September, 2015-16. The annual growth of IIP increased from minus 0.1 per cent in 2013-14 to 2.8 per cent in 2014-15, and slightly decreased to 2.4 per cent in 2015-16.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8172.35, up by 45.45 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 8128.70 and 8177.85. There were 39 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 3.74%, Idea Cellular up by 3.10%, HDFC up by 2.72%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.48% and Coal India up by 2.48%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 0.64%, Axis Bank down by 0.57%, TCS down by 0.55%, Lupin down by 0.54% and Power Grid down by 0.50% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite increased 14.66 points or 0.45% to 3,291.66, Taiwan Weighted gained 20.07 points or 0.22% to 9,242.31 and Jakarta Composite was up by 40.87 points or 0.8% to 5,155.44.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 decreased 56.4 points or 0.31% to 18,300.49, Hang Seng slipped 11.03 points or 0.05% to 22,819.54, KOSPI Index shed 3.07 points or 0.16% to 1,975.06 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.61 points or 0.04% to 1,628.05.