Benchmarks trade in green in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their firm trade in late morning session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters taking cues from regional counters parts and from positive close of US markets. The US economy expanded more than previously reported last quarter on a sunnier picture of household spending, the primary growth engine. The sentiments got some support with a private report which said that government is expected to meet its fiscal deficit target of 3 percent for the next financial year on account of additional revenue from penalty on black money and deposits under the income disclosure. Separately, deposit expansion of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) stood at 12.9 percent, while credit growth was at 12.1 percent for the quarter ended September, led by higher contribution by public sector banks. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its ‘Quarterly Statistics on Deposits and Credit of Scheduled Commercial Banks: September 2016’ report highlighted that public lenders continued to maintain their leading position, accounting for 70 percent of total deposits and 67 percent of credit in the quarter. Investors will be eyeing the second quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data slated to be announced later in the day. The general expectation is that economic growth accelerated to 7.5 percent in the September quarter from 7.1 percent in the June quarter but lower than 7.9 percent growth posted for the March quarter. Traders were seen piling up positions in Consumer Durables, Capital Goods and Bankex stocks, while selling was witnessed in Metal and Realty sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Vivimed Labs was trading firm after the US health regulator completed the inspection of its manufacturing facility in Alathur. The company’s ‘Finished Dosage Form’ manufacturing facility has had a favourable outcome post its US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) inspection.

On the global front, Asian shares were trading mostly in green. Traders eyed a meeting between the world’s top oil producers in Vienna seen as crucial in supporting prices through output cuts. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,150 and 26,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1502:544, while 132 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26519.42, up by 125.41 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 26395.50 and 26531.37. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.71%, while Small cap index was up by 1.09%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.61%, Capital Goods up by 1.22%, Bankex up by 1.03%, IT up by 0.65% and TECK up by 0.58%, while Metal down by 0.68% and Realty down by 0.04% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.05%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.58%, TCS up by 1.55%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 1.39% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.25%.

On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 0.64%, Reliance Industries down by 0.59%, GAIL India down by 0.39%, Power Grid down by 0.32% and Tata Motors down by 0.17% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has ordered LPG producers to supply all the cooking gas (LPG) they produce locally to state-owned oil companies only, and has asked the private retailers to source their requirements through imports. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, in an order said that sale of indigenously produced LPG is not permitted to the entities other than government oil companies and all domestically produced liquefied petroleum gas should necessarily be sold to PSUs for subsidised sale to consumers.

The ministry further stated that instances have been noticed of all locally produced LPG not being sold to oil marketing companies - IOC, Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) and some domestic LPG is also being sold to parallel marketeers in violation of Ministry’s order and held that sale of LPG by domestic producers to anyone other than state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) is not permissible under LPG control order. The ministry has asked all LPG producers including Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), GAIL India and RIL as well as parallel marketeers to comply with the order.

As per the control order non-state LPG sellers or parallel marketeer cannot source the fuel from domestic refiners. They have to import LPG if they intend to sell the cooking fuel in domestic market. The LPG control order of 2000 defines parallel marketeer as someone who is carrying on business of importing, storing, transporting, marketing and distributing of LPG. It does not prohibit the parallel marketeer from producing LPG but it cannot sell such production directly to consumers.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8186.85, up by 44.70 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 8139.25 and 8188.80. There were 38 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Grasim Industries up by 2.90%, ACC up by 2.50%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.20%, ICICI Bank up by 2.19% and Ambuja Cement up by 2.07%.

On the flip side, Idea Cellular down by 2.08%, Hindalco down by 0.97%, Reliance Industries down by 0.87%, Tata Steel down by 0.54% and GAIL India down by 0.50% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 4.18 points or 0.21% to 1,982.57, Nikkei 225 increased 12.68 points or 0.07% to 18,319.72, Taiwan Weighted increased 23.63 points or 0.26% to 9,216.01, Jakarta Composite increased 34.42 points or 0.67% to 5,171.08 and Hang Seng increased 73.45 points or 0.32% to 22,810.52.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite decreased 35.15 points or 1.07% to 3,247.77 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 0.89 points or 0.05% to 1,626.04.