Benchmarks trade slightly in green on firm global cues

Indian equity benchmarks have made a positive start and are trading slightly in green in early deals on Friday buoyed by firm global cues. Traders also took some encouragement with a US think tank report stating that India will be the world’s fastest growing economy during the next five years as China’s economy cools and growth elsewhere sputters, but internal tensions over inequality and religion will complicate its expansion. However, gains remained capped as traders opted to remain on sidelines ahead of December IIP data due to be announced later in the day. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has warned that economies will become more inefficient and GDP will shrink if protectionist trend emerges in developed economies.

On the global front, Asian markets rallied at this point of time, led by the Japanese market, which is up by over two percent with the gain in dollar. Higher crude oil prices also boosted investors’ sentiments in the region. The US markets surged in last session to record highs after showing a lack of direction in the past few sessions, mainly due to comments from US President to announce a plan to lower the tax burden on American business.

Back home, software stocks remained on buyers’ radar on government’s statement that it is engaged with the Donald Trump administration as well as members of the US Congress on concerns regarding the H1B visa issue. The market breadth remained in favour of advances, as there were 1,157 shares on the gaining side against 827 shares on the losing side while 114 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28343.14, up by 13.44 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 28319.47 and 28456.18. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index slipped 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.94%, Bankex up by 0.43%, Capital Goods up by 0.38%, IT up by 0.32% and Power was up by 0.31%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.39%, Auto down by 0.31% and FMCG was down by 0.21% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports up by 2.15%, SBI up by 1.18%, ONGC up by 0.93%, Tata Steel up by 0.79% and Power Grid was up by 0.72%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 1.15%, Tata Motors down by 0.77%, ICICI Bank down by 0.74%, ITC down by 0.68% and Sun Pharma was down by 0.62% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, an US intelligence think-tank in its latest report titled 'Global Trends' has said that India will be the world's fastest growing economy during the next five years as China's economy cools and growth elsewhere sputters, but it also cautioned that internal tensions over inequality and religion will complicate its expansion. It also said that Pakistan, unable to match India's economic prowess, will seek other methods to maintain even a semblance of balance.

The National Intelligence Council (NIC), which is the center for mid-term and long-term strategic thinking within the US Intelligence Community, in its report said that India’s growing economic power and profile in the region will further complicate calculations, as New Delhi navigates relations with Beijing, Moscow, and Washington to protect its own expanding interests. It added that New Delhi, however, will continue to offer smaller South Asian countries a stake in India’s economic growth through development assistance and increased connectivity to India’s economy, contributing to India’s broader effort to assert its role as the predominant regional power.

According to NIC, India probably has the greatest potential to boost global growth because of its size and the success of its technology sector, but it would have to improve its energy, transportation and manufacturing infrastructure to sustain high rates of growth. Infrastructure has improved in some locales but not in wide swaths of the country. It also said that unlike China, India will benefit from 10 million new working-age residents per year during the coming decades, yet harnessing such a massive labor pool increase in ways that increase productivity and boost output has proven difficult.

The report said that tremendous internal and external changes will shape security and political stability in South Asia in the next five years as the planned drawdown of international forces in Afghanistan; the deepening relationship between the US and India; China’s westward-facing development objectives under its One Belt, One Road initiative; and inroads by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and other terrorist groups all have their impact. Geopolitically, the region’s greatest hope is India’s ability to use its economic and human potential to drive regional trade and development.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8794.00, up by 15.60 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 8781.35 and 8822.10. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Grasim Industries up by 4.25%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.54%, Adani Ports up by 2.03%, Indusind Bank up by 1.62% and SBI was up by 1.34%. On the flip side, Aurobindo Pharma down by 3.23%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.86%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.41%, BPCL down by 1.10% and Lupin was down by 1.03% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in green; KOSPI Index gained 10.51 points or 0.51% to 2,076.39, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI soared 12.2 points or 0.72% to 1,700.70, Shanghai Composite rose 13.56 points or 0.43% to 3,196.74, Jakarta Composite advanced 20.85 points or 0.39% to 5,392.92, Taiwan Weighted surged 85.21 points or 0.89% to 9,675.39, Hang Seng added 130.14 points or 0.55% to 23,655.28 and Nikkei 225 was up by 452.06 points or 2.39% to 19,359.73.