Markets hover near highest point of the day

Indian equity benchmarks continued their momentum to trade near highest point of the day in the afternoon session, led by index heavyweight Reliance Industries and tracking mostly positive trade in Asian equities. At present, Sensex and Nifty were trading above the crucial 28,900 and 8,950 levels respectively, with gains of over half a percent. Sentiments remained optimistic with a private report stating that India’s millennial population is a massive disruptive force and driven by the supportive demographics along with government's policy action, Indian economy is likely to reach $ 5 trillion by 2025. Adding the optimism among investors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the United States to keep an open mind on admitting skilled Indian workers, in comments that pushed back against Republican President Donald Trump's 'America First' rhetoric on jobs. Moreover, covering-up of short positions by speculators ahead of February month expiry in the derivatives segment too contributed to the indices’ gains.  In scrip specific development, Bajaj Electricals was up by over two percent on entering into a trademark licence agreement with Morphy Richards of United Kingdom to renew the exclusive license for use of trademark ‘Morphy Richards’, for a further period of five years from April 25, 2017, on payment of royalty.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, following positive Wall Street performance overnight. Investors also cheered upbeat factory activity in Europe and solid earnings on Wall Street. However, gains was capped as investors turned cautious ahead of the release of the U.S. Federal Reserve minutes later in the day.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28946.23, up by 184.64 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 28789.30 and 28950.48. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.02%, while Small cap index was up by 0.02%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 4.26%, Oil & Gas up by 1.94%, Realty up by 1.08%, Telecom up by 0.94% and Bankex up by 0.48%, while IT down by 1.06%, TECK down by 0.71%, Consumer Durables down by 0.61%, Utilities down by 0.24% and Healthcare down by 0.16% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 9.41%, Axis Bank up by 2.59%, Coal India up by 2.32%, Asian Paints up by 1.70% and Tata Motors up by 1.32%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.76%, NTPC down by 1.42%, TCS down by 1.31%, Power Grid down by 1.00% and Tata Steel down by 0.75% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, aided by sector-specific drivers and government’s growth oriented reforms, Indian Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) industry is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 16-23 per cent to reach $ 171-228 billion by 2020. As per a joint report of the India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) and global services firm Ernst & Young (EY) in 2015, India's ESDM industry is sized at $ 82 billion, growing at a CAGR of eight per cent from 2013. By 2016-17 the sector will become a 100 billion plus opportunity. The report stated that the robust growth of India's electronics industry is primarily driven by huge domestic demand for products that can be attributed to a multitude of factors, including a growing middle class, rising disposable incomes and favourable duty structures.

IESA, the trade body representing the Indian ESDM industry in the country, in its report noted that domestic manufacturing of electronic products market is sized at $61.8 billion, growing at a CAGR of 10 per cent over the past two years and that the sector was expected to grow at a CAGR of 15-19 per cent to reach $123-150 billion by 2020 and is expected to increase further over the next five years from 17 per cent annual growth, while the Electronic Manufacturing Services segment is estimated to grow 42-68 per cent over the next five years to $ 6-13.2 billion by 2020.

It also said that electronic components market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 22-33 per cent to reach $ 36.6-56.5 billion and design services revenue is forecast to reach $ 23.5-29.2 billion by 2020 at a CAGR of 13-18 per cent. To forecast industry outlook, apart from sector-specific drivers the report has taken several parameters in consideration such as overall  Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, currency movement, inflation, existing trade agreements, consumer sentiments, potential government consumption, existing government policies, investments, manufacturing entities, and type of value addition in India.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8955.65, up by 47.80 points or 0.54% after trading in a range of 8917.10 and 8958.20. There were 27 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 9.45%, Axis Bank up by 2.84%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.40%, Coal India up by 2.36% and Bosch up by 2.32%. On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 2.42%, Infosys down by 1.92%, NTPC down by 1.48%, TCS down by 1.34% and Power Grid down by 1.09% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.28 points or 0.02% to 1,706.83, KOSPI Index was up by 3.68 points or 0.17% to 2,106.61, Shanghai Composite rose 5.36 points or 0.16% to 3,258.69, Taiwan Weighted added 14.85 points or 0.15% to 9,778.78 and Hang Seng gained 193 points or 0.81% to 24,156.63.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 4.85 points or 0.09% to 5,336.14 and Nikkei 225 was down by 1.57 points or 0.01% to 19,379.87.