Benchmarks maintain upbeat trend in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continue to maintain the upbeat trend in late afternoon session as positive global cues along with strong rupee against dollar, buoyed investors’ sentiments. Traders remained optimistic with the Care ratings’ report that it expects GDP growth to accelerate to 8 percent next financial year as against 7.1 percent in this year as per the latest CSO estimate and added that the monsoon will be the only domestic risk factor which may scupper this. Sentiments also got some lift with the report that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley moved the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Bill, 2017, along with three other GST Bills for consideration and passage in the Lok Sabha. However, up-side remained capped ahead of the near month March 2017 derivatives contract expiry on Thursday. On the sectoral front, shares of some power companies were trading higher with the report that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) is likely to approve the amendments in the Mega Power Policy to push 31 GW stuck projects entailing an investment of Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, on Wednesday, as investors looked to London and Brussels and the start of Britain's much-anticipated Brexit proceedings. Back home, in scrip specific development, Kalpataru Power Transmission (KPTL) edged higher after the company secured new orders exceeding Rs 1200 crore and Talwalkars Better Value Fitness (TBVF) surged after the company inaugurated its 10 Zorba - renaissance studios.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29515.48, up by 105.96 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 29439.42 and 29535.04. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.41%, while Small cap index was up by 0.47%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.46%, Bankex up by 0.77%, Capital Goods up by 0.77%, PSU up by 0.75% and Metal up by 0.74%, while Realty down by 0.36%, Healthcare down by 0.24%, Oil & Gas down by 0.16% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 2.32%, Asian Paints up by 1.55%, Coal India up by 1.01%, ICICI Bank up by 1.01% and HDFC up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 0.97%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.60%, GAIL India down by 0.56%, Infosys down by 0.54% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.46% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is likely to grow in the range of 7.5-8 percent next year if monsoon remains normal. Care ratings, the global credit rating agency, in its latest report expects GDP growth to accelerate to 8 percent next financial year as against 7.1 percent in this year as per the latest CSO estimate and added that the monsoon will be the only domestic risk factor which may scupper this.

Care ratings also stated that the government is taking its efforts to rollout the much awaited the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime from July 1 and it should give confidence to the investors and added that other reform measures including GST should augur well for the markets and the interest of foreign portfolio investors (FPI) should be higher. It added that the overall FPI inflows should move into the range of $ 15-20 billion in fiscal 2017 with equity dominating with $ 10-15 billion and debt with $ 5 billion.

The report however said that debt flows would be contingent on the interest rate differential between the Fed induced interest rates in the US and domestic rates and domestic rates should remain stable at least in the first half of fiscal 2018. It further said that the RBI will take inflation and the monsoon progress into consideration to cut the rates.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9139.90, up by 39.10 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 9109.10 and 9140.10. There were 35 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 4.90%, SBI up by 2.46%, Eicher Motors up by 1.88%, Hindalco up by 1.74% and HCL Tech up by 1.64%. On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 0.91%, Sun Pharma down by 0.90%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.83%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.62% and Aurobindo Pharma down by 0.59% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 3.67 points or 0.17% to 2,166.98, Nikkei 225 increased 14.61 points or 0.08% to 19,217.48, Jakarta Composite increased 34.72 points or 0.63% to 5,575.92 and Hang Seng increased 46.18 points or 0.19% to 24,392.05. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted decreased 20.2 points or 0.2% to 9,856.25, Shanghai Composite decreased 11.63 points or 0.36% to 3,241.31 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 5.41 points or 0.31% to 1,749.01.

All European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 12.37 points or 0.17% to 7,355.79, France’s CAC increased 18.58 points or 0.37% to 5,064.78 and Germany’s DAX increased 71.94 points or 0.59% to 12,221.36.