Benchmarks continue firm trade; Nifty holds 9200 mark

Indian equity benchmarks continued their firm trade in late morning session on widespread buying by investors and funds. The rupee opened higher against dollar on account of buying of American currency by bank and importers amid sustained inflows by foreign institutional investors. Foreign Institutional Investors pumped in Rs 30,906 crore and Rs 25,355 crore, respectively, in the equities and debt market. Traders took support with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that Indian economy is pegged to grow 7.2% in 2017 and 7.7% in 2018. He pointed to huge investment opportunity in India’s infrastructure space and the rest of emerging economies while urging New Development Bank to step up funding as existing multilateral lenders are unable to meet the demand. Some support also came after activity in India’s manufacturing sector expanded at the fastest pace in five months in March as output and new orders accelerated. The Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, compiled by IHS Markit, rose to 52.5 in March, from 50.7 in February. Output and new orders sub-indexes rose to their highest since October 2016, suggesting the world’s fastest growing major economy has largely recovered from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s shock decision in November to ban high-value currency notes.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said that with the country’s exports recording healthy growth during the past few months, the shipments are expected to touch $270 billion by end of this fiscal. FIEO enlightened that during this challenging period, India witnessed double digit growth in exports in February after a long time. During the April-February period of the current fiscal, exports have grown by 2.52% to $245.4 billion. The Reserve Bank of India increased Foreign Portfolio Investors’ (FPI) limits on investment in government bonds by an aggregate Rs 17,000 crore for the April- June period. Traders were seen piling position in Capital Goods, Energy and Industrials stocks, while selling was witnessed in Telecom, TECK and IT sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Unitech slumped on reports that both the promoters Ajay Chandra and Sanjay Chandra were sent to police custody this past weekend by a Delhi court in an alleged fraud case related to a Gurugram-based real estate project. Indoco Remedies was trading in red after the company received a warning letter from the US health regulator for its Goa plant.

On the global front, Asian shares were trading in green, as investors look to the shape of US trade and economic policies and how they could affect global growth. Japanese big manufacturers’ business confidence improved for a second straight quarter to hit a one-and-a-half year high in March, a sign the benefits of an export-driven economic recovery were broadening. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 9,200 and 29,700 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1726:617, while 102 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29773.10, up by 152.60 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 29705.72 and 29787.61. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.58%, while Small cap index was up by 0.96%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.69%, Energy up by 1.48%, Industrials up by 1.25%, Consumer Durables up by 1.15% and Basic Materials up by 1.06%, while Telecom down by 1.57%, TECK down by 0.74% and IT down by 0.67% were the top losers on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 3.45%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.53%, GAIL India up by 2.10%, Tata Steel up by 1.26% and Tata Motors up by 0.99%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.86%, Wipro down by 1.27%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.95%, Infosys down by 0.94% and HDFC Bank down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the growth of eight core sectors, which contribute 38% to the total industrial production, slowed down to over one-year low of 1% in February 2017, mainly due to contraction in output of all items excluding coal, steel and electricity. The previous low of 0.9% was recorded in December 2015 and it is also lower than 3.4 percent in January in the previous month. According to that data released by the ministry of Commerce and Industry showed the combined Index of eight core industries coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity stood at 180.1 in February, 2017. Its cumulative growth during April-February, 2016-17 was 4.4%.

Among eight core sectors, Steel production having 6.68% weight surged 8.7% in February, 2017 over February, 2016. Its cumulative index during April to February, 2016-17 increased by 9.1% over the corresponding period of previous year. Coal production having 4.38% weight jumped 7.1% in February, 2017 over February, 2016. Its cumulative index during April to February, 2016-17 increased by 2.8% over corresponding period of previous year. Electricity generation having 10.32% weight rose by 1.5% in February, 2017 over February, 2016. Its cumulative index during April to February, 2016-17 increased by 5.0% over the corresponding period of previous year.

On the other hand, Cement production having 2.41% weight dropped 15.8% in February, 2017 over February, 2016. Its cumulative index during April to February, 2016-17 declined by 0.7% over the corresponding period of previous year. Fertilizer production having 1.25% weight slipped 5.3% in February, 2017 over February, 2016, while its cumulative index during April to February, 2016-17 increased by 2.1% over the corresponding period of previous year. Crude Oil production having 5.22% weight decreased by 3.4% in February, 2017 over February, 2016. Its cumulative index during April to February, 2016-17 declined by 2.8% over the corresponding period of previous year.

Petroleum Refinery production having 5.94% weight declined 2.3% in February, 2017 over February, 2016, while its cumulative index during April to February, 2016-17 increased by 5.9% over the corresponding period of previous year. The Natural Gas production having 1.71% weight was down by 1.7% in February, 2017 over February, 2016. Its cumulative index during April to February, 2016-17 declined by 1.9% over the corresponding period of previous year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9201.05, up by 27.30 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 9192.40 and 9220.65. There were 25 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 3.33%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.70%, GAIL India up by 1.95%, Ambuja Cement up by 1.71% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.34%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.89%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.49%, Wipro down by 1.33%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 1.33% and BPCL down by 1.23% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.48 points or 0.14% to 1,742.57, KOSPI Index increased 4.05 points or 0.19% to 2,164.28, Jakarta Composite increased 34.5 points or 0.62% to 5,602.60, Hang Seng increased 84.96 points or 0.35% to 24,196.55 and Nikkei 225 increased 96.13 points or 0.51% to 19,005.39.

Shanghai Stock Exchange and Taiwan Stock Exchange were closed on account of National holiday.