Benchmarks trade in green in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks extended gains and were hovering near the highest point of the day in late morning session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The market continues to inch up relentlessly with support from domestic fund flows. On Tuesday, as per provisional data available with BSE, Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1535.44 crore. Today’s gain is been largely driven by Reliance Industries (RIL) that hit nearly 8-year high as investors cheered the announcements made by chairman Mukesh Ambani for customers of Jio. Traders took some encouragement with a private report stating that India’s millennial population is a massive disruptive force and driven by these supportive demographics along with government’s policy action, Indian economy is likely to reach $5 trillion by 2025. Some support also came on reports that Reserve Bank of India is proposing its toughest measures yet to recover loans from defaulters by prescribing December deadline for the loan restructuring of top 50 defaulters in a way that the assets turn viable and also in an environment where vigilance departments do not stifle the right economic outcome. Picking up from where former governor Raghuram Rajan left, Deputy Governor Acharya proposed setting up of two asset management companies, one private and the other quasi with government stake holding, and two rating agencies backing for valuation of stressed assets.

The market may remain volatile this week as traders may roll over positions in the Futures & Options (F&O) segment from the near month i.e. February 2017 series to next month i.e. March 2017 series. The near month February 2017 derivatives contracts will expire on Thursday i.e. February 23, 2017. Traders were seen piling position in Energy, Telecom and Oil & Gas stocks, while selling was witnessed in IT, TECK and Capital Goods sector stocks. In scrip specific development, ITD Cementation was trading in red after the company registered nearly 57 percent fall in consolidated net profit at Rs 13.01 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2016 against Rs 30.05 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Hectic buying activity was witnessed in select tea stocks on expectation that prices may rally on production shortfall.

On the global front, Asian shares were trading mostly in green, joining a record-setting night for world markets as investors cheered upbeat factory activity in Europe and solid earnings on Wall Street. China’s home price growth slowed for the fourth straight month as demand cooled further in the biggest cities, signaling government curbs to defuse a bubble in the sector were starting to pay dividends. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,900 and 28,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1243:1003, while 143 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28886.89, up by 125.30 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 28789.30 and 28892.24. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.15%, while Small cap index was up by 0.16%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 3.36%, Telecom up by 1.59%, Oil & Gas up by 1.57%, Realty up by 1.37% and Bankex up by 0.42%, while IT down by 0.84%, TECK down by 0.44%, Capital Goods down by 0.26%, Consumer Durables down by 0.21% and Basic Materials down by 0.12% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 7.28%, Axis Bank up by 2.19%, Coal India up by 2.05%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.91% and Asian Paints up by 1.81%.

On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.59%, NTPC down by 1.16%, TCS down by 0.96%, Tata Steel down by 0.76% and GAIL India down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, addressing India's concern with regard to Trump administration’s move to curb H-1B visas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the United States (US) to develop a balanced and farsighted outlook towards movement of skilled professionals. Modi’s comments reflected anxiety that India’s $150 billion IT services industry would suffer if the US curbs the H-1B visas, it relies on to send its software experts to the United States on project work.

In a meeting with a 26-member bipartisan delegation of the US Congress, Modi shared his view on areas where both countries can work even more closely, including in facilitating greater people-to-people linkages that have over the years helped contribute to each other's prosperity. In this context, the Prime Minister referred to the role of skilled Indian talent in enriching the American economy and society.

Soon after taking over last month, Trump had decided to overhaul the work visa programmes such as H-1B and L1, a move that will adversely hit the lifeline of Indian tech firms and professionals in the US. At present, 65,000 H1B visas are issued by the US every year and Indians account for a major chunk in it.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8941.70, up by 33.85 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 8917.10 and 8944.85. There were 29 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 7.22%, Axis Bank up by 2.31%, Coal India up by 2.14%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.10% and Bosch up by 1.99%.

On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.78%, NTPC down by 1.25%, TCS down by 1.05%, Tata Steel down by 0.91% and Eicher Motors down by 0.82% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.76 points or 0.04% to 1,707.31, KOSPI Index increased 3.01 points or 0.14% to 2,105.94, Taiwan Weighted increased 18.19 points or 0.19% to 9,782.12 and Hang Seng increased 207.54 points or 0.87% to 24,171.17.

On the other hand, Nikkei 225 decreased 11.38 points or 0.06% to 19,370.06, Jakarta Composite decreased 6.5 points or 0.12% to 5,334.49 and Shanghai Composite decreased 4.4 points or 0.14% to 3,248.93.