Sensex, Nifty pare gains but trade continues in green

Indian equities pared most of their early gains, but managed to trade in green in the afternoon session, on account of sustained buying by fund and retail investors, in the blue-chip counters. Investors got some support after the much-awaited tax reform-Goods and Services Tax (GST) - inched closer to its July 1 rollout date with the Lok Sabha approving four supplementary legislations. The unified tax regime is expected to boost economic growth by about 0.5 percentage points in its first year of implementation. Some support also came with the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Arjun Ram Meghwal’s statement that the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016 will help to improve India’s ranking in terms of ease of doing business as well as promote economic growth. The market may remain volatile today as traders roll over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the near month March 2017 series to April 2017 series. The near month March 2017 derivatives contracts will expire today i.e. March 30, 2017. In scrip specific development, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was trading in green after expanding long-standing partnership with Siemens to deliver a comprehensive set of plant solutions for enabling the connected Digital Enterprise.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red, tracking the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street and as the UK began the formal process of exiting the European Union. Besides, crude oil prices edged lower in Asian trades after rallying to three-week highs overnight.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29578.78, up by 47.35 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 29521.65 and 29645.88. 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 0.44%, while Small cap index was up by 0.83%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.22%, Consumer Durables up by 1.19%, Industrials up by 0.71%, Capital Goods up by 0.69% and Consumer Disc up by 0.63%, while Metal down by 0.29%, TECK down by 0.02%, Utilities down by 0.01%, IT down by 0.00% and Telecom down by 0.00% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 4.31%, SBI up by 1.15%, TCS up by 0.79%, Hero MotoCorp up by 0.77% and Reliance Industries up by 0.59%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 1.02%, Coal India down by 0.66%, Tata Motors down by 0.54%, Infosys down by 0.52% and ITC down by 0.51% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Power Ministry has said that India has turned around from a net importer of electricity to net exporter of electricity for the first time. According to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the Designated Authority of Government of India for Cross Border Trade of Electricity, during April-February 2017, the country has exported around 5,798 million units to Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar, which is 213 million units more than the import of around 5,585 million units from Bhutan. Also, in the last three years, export to Nepal and Bangladesh increased 2.5 and 2.8 times respectively.

As per the report, ever since the cross border trade of electricity started in mid-Eighties, India has been importing electricity from Bhutan and marginally exporting to Nepal in radial mode at 33 kV and 132 kV from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. It also said that on an average Bhutan has been supplying around 5,000- 5500 Million units to India. It added that India had also been exporting around 190 MW power to Nepal over 12 cross border interconnections at 11kV, 33kV and 132 kV level.

The report highlighted that India’s power exports to Nepal has further increased by around 145 MW with the commissioning of the Muzaffarpur (India) - Dhalkhebar (Nepal) 400kV line (being operated at 132 kV) in 2016. It also noted that, in September 2013, India’s export of power to Bangladesh got a further boost with the commissioning of the first cross border interconnection between Baharampur in India and Bheramara in Bangladesh at 400kV.

According to the report, export of power to Nepal is expected to increase by around 145 MW shortly over 132 kV Katiya (Bihar) - Kusaha (Nepal) and 132 kV Raxaul (Bihar) - Parwanipur (Nepal).  Moreover, a few more cross border links with neighbouring countries are in pipe line which would further increase export of Power.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9153.55, up by 9.75 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 9136.35 and 9169.65. There were 27 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 4.30%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.05%, Indusind Bank up by 1.03%, SBI up by 0.97% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.94%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 1.25%, Axis Bank down by 1.06%, Idea Cellular down by 0.79%, Coal India down by 0.73% and ITC down by 0.72% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 154.26 points or 0.8% to 19,063.22, Hang Seng slipped 90.56 points or 0.37% to 24,301.49, Shanghai Composite dropped 28.58 points or 0.88% to 3,212.74, Jakarta Composite declined 26.61 points or 0.48% to 5,565.90, Taiwan Weighted dipped 8.1 points or 0.08% to 9,848.15, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 3.52 points or 0.2% to 1,746.89 and KOSPI Index decreased 2.34 points or 0.11% to 2,164.64.