Markets continue to trade in fine fettle in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks pared marginal gains but were still trading in fine fettle with gains of around half-a-per cent each in late afternoon session. Expectations of a rate cut by the RBI and upbeat Q3 earnings supported underlying sentiments. Some support also came with Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das’ statement expressing confidence that the economy will grow upwards of 7 per cent next fiscal. He reiterated that there will be transient impact of demonetisation on the economy, but it will not spill over to the next fiscal. The Economic Affairs Secretary taking a dig at global rating agencies for failing to upgrade India's sovereign rating despite significant improvement in macroeconomic parameters, has said the agencies are several steps behind from reality and are missing out on something which only they can best explain. On sectoral front, stocks from Realty, FMCG and Capital goods were attracting buyers, whereas those from Metal, TECK and IT sections were trading weak.

On global front, European markets were trading in red, as investors turned their focus to European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s testimony at the European Parliament, looking for clues on the outlook for the ECB’s stimulus program. However, Asian markets were trading in green after President Donald Trump moved to scale back regulation of the U.S. financial industry last week. Back home, in scrip specific development, BHEL surged after the company secured an EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) order for the installation of Solar PhotoVoltaic (PV) Rooftop systems totaling to 3.6 MW capacity from the Surat Municipal Corporation.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28402.59, up by 162.07 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 28340.39 and 28487.28. There were 21 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.64%, while Small cap index was up by 0.71%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.39%, FMCG up by 1.38%, Bankex up by 0.88%, Capital Goods up by 0.80% and Consumer Durables up by 0.74%, while Metal down by 0.35%, IT down by 0.26% and TECK down by 0.15% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.90%, Sun Pharma up by 2.55%, ITC up by 1.91%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.47% and Lupin up by 1.30%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.71%, ONGC down by 1.02%, Cipla down by 0.86%, Coal India down by 0.66% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.57% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, pointing to the extremely challenging business environment and stabilising steel industry, the Union Minister of Steel, Chaudhary Birendra Singh has said that the industry must prepare itself to face global competition as protectionist measures like minimum import price (MIP) and anti dumping cannot be continued for an indefinite period.

The minister said that steel industry is stabilising and if everything is stabilised then government may have to think of which are the components that could again be put in the MIP list. Further, the Steel minister said that such measures taken by government have remained helpful to the steel industry which has suffered on account of glut in the global market. He also noted improvement in import and export statistics of steel, stating that steel import has come down to 34 per cent and export is 58 per cent higher as compared to last year.

On MIP measure which gives relief to domestic steel producers against cheap in-bound shipments, He said that imposition of MIP on steel products has also reduced to 19 from 173. Steel makers had urged the government to extend MIP on certain products, saying its imposition has marginally improved the industry's viability after a long period of subdued prices.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8781.40, up by 40.45 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 8770.20 and 8814.10. There were 32 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ambuja Cement up by 3.99%, ACC up by 3.70%, ICICI Bank up by 2.93%, Sun Pharma up by 2.52% and Aurobindo Pharma up by 2.26%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.82%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.80%, HCL Tech down by 1.40%, Bank of Baroda down by 0.97% and Idea Cellular down by 0.87% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 4.07 points or 0.24% to 1,689.08, KOSPI Index increased 4.5 points or 0.22% to 2,077.66, Shanghai Composite increased 16.81 points or 0.54% to 3,156.98, Jakarta Composite increased 25.36 points or 0.47% to 5,386.13, Nikkei 225 increased 58.51 points or 0.31% to 18,976.71, Taiwan Weighted increased 82.45 points or 0.87% to 9,538.01 and Hang Seng increased 219.03 points or 0.95% to 23,348.24.

European markets were trading mostly in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 47.97 points or 0.41% to 11,603.52 and France’s CAC decreased 1.17 points or 0.02% to 4,824.25. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 5.46 points or 0.08% to 7,193.76.