Benchmarks extend early gains; trade at intra-day high levels

Indian equity indices extended early gains in noon session, hovering near the intra-day high level of the day, on sustained buying by funds and retail investors in frontline blue chip stocks. Sentiments got some support with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley terming the GST bill revolutionary and hoping all the political parties would pass the related bills through consensus in the current session of Parliament. All the four bills related to GST bill will be debated in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, after it was tabled earlier in the week in the lower house of the Parliament for consideration. The government has been pushing all the buttons to meet the July 1 deadline to introduce the unified tax bill, which will abolish multiple taxation for good. Sustained foreign fund inflows coupled with covering-up of outstanding short positions ahead of the March derivatives expiry also boosted the domestic sentiments. On Tuesday, two-day ahead of the March F&O expiry, marketwide rollovers came in at 43%, which were higher than the average rollover of 42% seen during the comparable period of last three series. Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 6,415.38 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Further, the rupee strengthened to a 17-month high of 64.95 against the dollar, which helped improve the risk appetite.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher on Wednesday after Wall Street steadied overnight as data showed US consumer confidence soaring to a more than 16-year high. US consumer confidence surged amid growing labour market optimism, while the trade deficit in goods narrowed sharply in February. However, investors remained cautious as British Prime Minister Theresa May signed a letter on Tuesday to European Council President Donald Tusk notifying the European Union of Britain's intention to leave the bloc. The letter is due to be delivered to Brussels later on Wednesday, triggering years of uncertain negotiations that will test the endurance of the European Union.

Back home, stocks from Telecom, Capital Goods and Banking counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Oil & Gas counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, OM Metals Infraprojects gained after the company secured a Letter of Intent (LoI) from Indra Sagar Project (Canals) for supply and laying of pipe line on right bank of Upperveda project on Turnkey Basis for value amounting Rs 13.50 crore. Furthermore, Marsons jumped after the company secured a large order of 30 power transformers worth Rs 11.84 crore from a leading EPC contractor for the IPDS and DDUGJY projects in Orissa.   

The market breadth remained optimistic, as there were 1343 shares on the gaining side against 1066 shares on the losing side, while 181 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29523.59, up by 114.07 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 29439.42 and 29527.66. There were 18 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.29%, while Small cap index up by 0.48%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.97%, Capital Goods up by 0.94%, Bankex up by 0.75%, PSU up by 0.71% and Industrials up by 0.60%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.15% was the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 1.90%, Asian Paints up by 1.55%, ICICI Bank up by 1.52%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.36% and Axis Bank up by 1.09%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 0.56%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.48%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 0.41%, Sun Pharma down by 0.29% and Wipro down by 0.20% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government will borrow Rs 3.72 lakh crore from the market during April-September period of FY2018, which represents 64 percent of the borrowing target for full financial year. The borrowing target will be slightly higher than other years as the finance ministry and the RBI expects other ministries to start spending from the beginning of the financial year as well as redemption pressure. In order to finance the fiscal deficit of 3.2 per cent of the GDP for 2017-18, the Budget had pegged gross borrowing at Rs 5.8 lakh crore and net borrowing at Rs 4.25 lakh crore.

Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das has said that generally every year they borrow 60-62 percent in the first half of the year and this year the borrowing target is slightly higher at 64 per cent. He noted that total redemptions of Rs 1.57 lakh crore are due next year of which 90 per cent will be redeemed in the first half. He also explained that budget has been passed and money will be available fully from the beginning of the year and considering the revenue inflows and other receipts, the group has decided that of total gross borrowing, 64 per cent is Rs 3.72 lakh crore.

Das further said that the focus in planning the open market borrowing is to extend the maturity profile as well as to undertake it in the most non-disruptive manner. He also said that at the moment the maturity profile of all GSecs is about 10.5 years, and the next year’s GSecs which are going to be auctioned will have a maturity profile of 14.7 years. Meanwhile, the ministry and RBI have decided to extend the maturity profile of government securities beginning next year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9132.35, up by 31.55 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 9109.10 and 9134.75. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 3.55%, Tata Power up by 2.14%, SBI up by 2.06%, Asian Paints up by 1.67% and ICICI Bank up by 1.55%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.63%, Grasim Industries down by 0.59%, GAIL India down by 0.59%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.58% and Adani Ports & SEZ down by 0.44% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index gained 0.14%, Shanghai Composite increased 0.2%, Jakarta Composite added 0.75% and Hang Seng was up by 0.09%. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted decreased 0.2%, Nikkei 225 declined 0.07% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.22%.