Bourses spike up to trade near high point of day

Indian markets suddenly spiked up towards the mid of the day, the major bourses which were moving in a small range since morning have surged and are now trading near the highs of the day. Although, the Asian peers were showing a mixed trend, the domestic markets took some support with Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who in her second day of economic testimony before Congress, offered no additional insight on the timing of the central bank's next rate hike. On the domestic front the encouragement was with the fifth consecutive month of rise in exports, which expanded by 4.32 percent to $ 22.11 billion in January against $21.19 billion in the same month of 2016. On sectoral front, major gains were coming from IT, pharmaceutical, consumer durables and auto stocks.

The IT stocks were buzzing after the industry body NASSCOM said that restrictions on H-1B visas in the US and the impact of Brexit are threatening to disrupt the growth trajectory of India’s information technology sector. However, the IT bellwether TCS was lending support after the company announced that its board will meet on February 20 to consider share buyback, the stock was moving higher by over a percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28273.90, up by 118.34 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 28146.19 and 28297.55. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices too were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.73%, while Small cap index up by 0.96%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.29%, IT up by 1.44%, Consumer Durables up by 1.22%, TECK up by 1.16% and Auto up by 1.00%, while FMCG down by 0.51% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.96%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.74%, Infosys up by 1.74%, Tata Motors up by 1.66% and SBI up by 1.53%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.35%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.06%, ICICI Bank down by 0.94%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.55% and Coal India down by 0.55% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, continuing its growth trajectory for the fifth straight month, India’s merchandise exports grew by 4.32 percent to $22.11 billion in January 2017, on the back of higher shipments of petroleum products, engineering goods and iron ore. Also, the overall trade deficit widened to $9.84 billion in January as against $7.66 billion in the year-ago period. The trade deficit during the ten-month period April-January 2016-17, was $ 86.38 billion against $ 107.74 billion in the same period last year.

As per the data released by the Commerce Ministry, exports increased by 4.32 percent to $22.11 billion in January 2017, as compared to $21.19 billion in the same month a year ago. In the rupee terms exports was higher by 5.61 percent to Rs 150559.98 crore as compared to Rs 142568.31 crore in January 2016. Cumulative value of exports for the period April-January 2016-17 was $220.92 billion as against $218.53 billion, registering a positive growth of 1.09 percent over the same period last year. In Rupee terms it was up by 4.50 percent to Rs 1484473.55 crore from 1420572.68 crore.

Non-petroleum exports in January 2017 were valued at $19.42 billion as against $19.11 billion in January 2016, an increase of 1.6 percent. Non-petroleum exports during April-January 2016-17 were valued at $196.25 billion as compared to $192.07 billion for the corresponding period in 2016, an increase of 2.2 percent.

Imports during January 2017, increased by 10.70 percent to $31.95 billion as compared to $28.86 billion in January 2016, while in rupee terms it was up by 12.07 percent to Rs 217557.32 crore from Rs 194134.02 crore in January 2016. However, Cumulative value of imports for the period April-January 2016-17 was $307.31 billion as against $326.27 billion, registering a negative growth of 5.81 percent over the same period last year. In rupee terms the cumulative imports was Rs 2065656.42 crore, down by 2.57 percent from Rs 2120158.57 crore in the same period last year.

Oil imports during January 2017, were valued at $8.14 billion which was 61.07 percent higher than oil imports valued at $5.05 billion in the corresponding month last year. Oil imports during April-January, 2016-17 were valued at $69.06 billion which was 5.81 percent lower than the oil imports of $73.32 billion in the corresponding period last year.

Non-oil imports during January 2017 were estimated at $23.81 billion which was 0.01 percent higher than non-oil imports of $23.81 billion in the same month last year. Non-oil imports during April-January 2016-17 were valued at $238.24 billion which was 5.81 percent lower than the level of such imports valued at $252.95 billion in April-January, 2015-16.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8768.65, up by 43.95 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 8719.60 and 8776.75. There were 38 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 2.82%, Eicher Motors up by 2.07%, Infosys up by 1.85%, Tata Motors up by 1.80% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.80%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.30%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.19%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.19%, ICICI Bank down by 0.96% and Zee Entertainment down by 0.83% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were showing mixed trend; Shanghai Composite was up by 7.86 points or 0.24% to 3,220.85 and Hang Seng surged by 107.37 points or 0.45% to 24,102.24.

On the flip side the Nikkei 225 declined by 90.45 points or 0.47% to 19,347.53, Taiwan Weighted lost 28.51 points or 0.29% to 9,771.25, Jakarta Composite decreased by 4.28 points or 0.08% to 5,376.39, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was lower by 3.06 points or 0.18% to 1,706.73 and KOSPI Index was down 2.46 points or 0.12% to 2,081.40.