Indian bourses continue to trade in positive territory

Key benchmark indices continued to trade in green in afternoon session on the back of buying witnessed in Auto, Consumer Durables and Realty stocks. The sentiments were on optimistic note with 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 2015-16 and 7.2 percent in 2014-15. Some support also came after RBI said that bank customers would be able to withdraw deposits made in current legal tender notes beyond the current limits, a move aimed at increasing currency circulation in system. Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has introduced the Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the Lok Sabha, which aims to impose higher rate of tax and penalty in certain incomes and proposes a new voluntary disclosure and investment scheme, named Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) 2016.

On the global front, Asian markets were mostly trading in red as concerns over an OPEC oil production cut and Italy's constitutional referendum casted a pall on the markets. Back home, In scrip specific development, Tata Steel gained around 2 percent after it signed a pact with Liberty House to sell its U.K. specialty steels business.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26515.43, up by 165.26 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 26357.56 and 26577.45. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.83%, while Small cap index was up by 1.15%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 2.18%, Consumer Durables up by 1.21%, Realty up by 1.01%, Capital Goods up by 0.71% and Bankex up by 0.42%, while FMCG down by 0.04% was the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 3.37%, GAIL India up by 2.53%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.38%, Asian Paints up by 2.16% and Coal India up by 2.05%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.03%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.65%, Axis Bank down by 0.50%, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 0.44% and Cipla down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the country’s trade deficit with China has climbed to $52.69 billion in FY16 as compared to $ 48.48 billion in the FY15. The trade deficit during the April-September period of 2016-17 stood at $25.22 billion. India's import of bulk drugs from China stood at $1.63 billion in 2015-16, which constitutes 64 per cent of India's total bulk drug imports. Overall, India had imported such drugs worth $2.5 billion last fiscal.

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has pointed that the trade deficit can be attributed mainly to the fact that Chinese exports to India are strongly dependent on manufactured items to meet the demand of fast expanding sectors like telecom and power. Minister also noted that, India is currently negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement keeping in view its export interests as well as sensitivities pertaining to all other participating countries including China.

The minister added that efforts are being made to increase overall exports by diversifying the trade basket with emphasis on manufactured goods, services, resolution of market access issues and other non-tariff barriers. She further highlighted that both India and china are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and no blanket ban can be imposed on any member country under the WTO framework. Though, she said that efforts are being made for revival of (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient) API industry to lessen dependency on import of key starting materials, intermediates and bulk drugs including from China.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8178.35, up by 51.45 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 8128.70 and 8196.40. There were 38 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Idea Cellular up by 4.35%, Eicher Motors up by 4.31%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.48%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.62% and Asian Paints up by 2.51%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.22%, ITC down by 1.09%, Hindalco down by 0.81%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.70% and Sun Pharma Inds. down by 0.62% were the top losers.

Asian markets were most trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 49.85 points or 0.27% to 18,307.04, Hang Seng decreased 47.34 points or 0.21% to 22,783.23, Taiwan Weighted decreased 29.86 points or 0.32% to 9,192.38 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.45 points or 0.09% to 1,627.21.

On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 0.26 points or 0.01% to 1,978.39, Shanghai Composite increased 22.34 points or 0.68% to 3,299.34 and Jakarta Composite increased 43.96 points or 0.86% to 5,158.53.