Firm trade prevails in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their firm trade in late afternoon session on the back of positive cues from European counterparts and healthy buying in Telecom, Banking and Metal stocks. Hopes of timely implementation of goods and services tax (GST) and sustained foreign fund inflows also boosted the domestic sentiments. Investors remained optimistic with the private report that manufacturing improved in March after a three month decline, while various government measures are likely to push up activity in the infrastructure sector going forward. The yearly SBI Composite Index bounced back to above 50-mark level to 50.3 after 3-months of decline. Besides, the monthly index has also improved to 53.3 in March, from 49.2 in February. Some support also came with Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia’s statement that GST will not only usher in a transparent tax system thereby reducing cascading of taxes, but will also result in reduction of prices for consumers and broaden the tax base in the country. Meanwhile, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), which will replace the current Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), will become operational from June 1 in preparation for the GST regime.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green as financial services stocks and car-makers edged higher against a backdrop of rising oil prices. Besides, investors moved on from health-care disappointment. Asian markets were also trading in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, Bank of Baroda traded higher after the bank entered into memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Jain Irrigation Systems, with an objective to finance the Micro Irrigation systems i.e. drip and sprinkler irrigation sold by the company through the network of Bank of Baroda branches across the country.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29389.92, up by 152.77 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 29301.22 and 29442.18. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.71%, while Small cap index was up by 0.75%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.98%, Metal up by 0.75%, Bankex up by 0.75%, Basic Materials up by 0.74% and TECK up by 0.66%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.35% and Energy down by 0.31% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 2.52%, HDFC up by 1.91%, Sun Pharma up by 1.22%, TCS up by 1.07% and Tata Motors up by 1.03%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.03%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.61%, ITC down by 0.48%, Reliance Industries down by 0.44% and Lupin down by 0.40% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to deal with the issues of rising costs impacting global competitiveness of exporters, the Commerce Ministry is working on a proposal to set up a separate logistics unit. Currently, there is no single department or ministry in the country to look at all the aspects related to logistics covering various modes of shipment such as sea, roads and railways.

Indian goods are less competitive in the global markets as logistics costs of exports are very high in the country. Exporters too have demanded for a specific department to deal with the issues related to logistics. They are undertaking a study to look at issues like shortcomings in logistics and ways to address that.

The proposed unit will tackle the issues such as rising costs in the sector impacting exporters. Besides, the Commerce Ministry has suggested to the Railways Ministry that it needs to clearly distinguish between consignments for exports, imports and the general category in terms of freight rates to increase the logistics competitiveness of exporters. India is aiming to increase its share in global trade from 2 per cent to 3.5 per cent by 2020.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9093.50, up by 48.30 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 9080.80 and 9109.75. There were 39 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 2.51%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.03%, HDFC up by 1.95%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.81% and Bharti Infratel up by 1.76%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.94%, ONGC down by 0.98%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.70%, GAIL India down by 0.53% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.46% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 5.35 points or 0.31% to 1,750.30, KOSPI Index increased 7.65 points or 0.35% to 2,163.31, Hang Seng increased 152.17 points or 0.63% to 24,345.87 and Nikkei 225 increased 217.28 points or 1.14% to 19,202.87. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite decreased 14.01 points or 0.43% to 3,252.95 and Taiwan Weighted decreased 0.32 points or 0% to 9,876.45.

European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 0.86 points or 0.01% to 7,294.36 and Germany’s DAX increased 62.85 points or 0.52% to 12,058.92. On the flip side, France’s CAC decreased 5.37 points or 0.11% to 5,012.06.