Benchmarks gain traction to trade in fine fettle

Indian equity benchmarks gained traction and were trading in fine fettle in the late afternoon session, as healthy buying was witnessed in Consumer Durables, Capital Goods and Oil & Gas stocks. Traders took some encouragement with Union Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation D. V. Sadananda Gowda’s statement that demonetisation could bring down the growth rate by just 0.2 percent and not more than that. He added that India’s GDP stood at 7.6 percent and it may go down to 7.4 percent. On the global front, European markets were trading mixed ahead of holiday Weekend. Asian markets were trading in red after Wall Street took a breather from its surge since the U.S. election, while the dollar hovered below the 14-year high set earlier this week.

Back home, shares of non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) plummeted further on report that the Maharashtra government will form a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate violations of norms by microfinance companies. In scrip specific development, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries was trading Higher as company’s wholly owned subsidiary acquired 13,000,000 Series B Preferred Stock of scPharmaceuticals Inc. (equivalent to 14.58% fully diluted equity stake on conversion) by way of allotment.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26117.99, up by 138.39 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 25872.38 and 26143.19. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.15%, while Small cap index was up by 0.33%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.93%, Capital Goods up by 0.91%, Oil & Gas up by 0.66%, PSU up by 0.34% and Auto up by 0.27%, while Realty down by 0.46%, FMCG down by 0.15% and Metal down by 0.02% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.09%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.41%, GAIL India up by 1.65%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.59% and Infosys up by 1.40%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 1.68%, Tata Motors down by 0.96%, ITC down by 0.79%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.74% and Cipla down by 0.65% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, admitting the fact that demonetisation will impact Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Union Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation D. V. Sadananda Gowda has said that demonetisation could bring down the growth rate by just 0.2 percent and not more than that. He added that India’s GDP stood at 7.6 percent and it may go down to 7.4 percent.

Gowda said 'I do concede that there will be impact of demonetisation on GDP and I do not dispute it. There is a small problem as far as employment generation and industrial productions are concerned, but still, it may not go down more than 0.2 percent'. Further, he expressed hopes that the problem would be sorted out soon and automatically things will improve. He said that for 10-12 days, more than Rs 4,000 crore black money have been unearthed and also recovered gold in kilograms.

Minister also said that corruption should be curbed at any cost to maintain financial discipline in the country. He added that the Centre has taken stringent measures and action against bank and other officials who had colluded with the black marketeers and others who had violated the law.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8006.05, up by 26.95 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 7942.05 and 8022.60. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 3.16%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.36%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.62%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.57% and GAIL India up by 1.39%. On the flip side, HCL Tech. down by 1.97%, Eicher Motors down by 1.85%, Axis Bank down by 1.74%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.26% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.96% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 61.44 points or 0.28% to 21,574.76, Taiwan Weighted decreased 40.11 points or 0.44% to 9,078.64, Shanghai Composite decreased 29.4 points or 0.94% to 3,110.15, Jakarta Composite decreased 11.24 points or 0.22% to 5,031.63 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 4.6 points or 0.28% to 1,618.60. On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 0.17 points or 0.01% to 2,035.90.

European markets were trading mixed; France’s CAC increased 7.49 points or 0.15% to 4,842.12 and Germany’s DAX increased 24.21 points or 0.22% to 11,203.63. On the flip side UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 1.95 points or 0.03% to 7,061.73.