Markets hold in green supported by gains in some bluechips

Indian markets are maintaining the modest gains in early noon session, recovering from the day’s low, supported by spurt in some bluchips like Reliance Industries, Maruti and SBI. While the Sensex is at striking distance from once again achieving the record 30000 mark, the Nifty was holding the record high level of 9250. Traders were encouraged with the government achieving the upward revised target of tax collection for FY17 and reporting a total tax collection of Rs 17.10 lakh crore during 2016-17 -- an increase of 18 per cent over 2015-16 and the highest tax collection in last six years. However, any major gains were capped ahead of the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting outcome on Thursday, largely expecting it to maintain status quo on interest rates. While the broader markets are performing better, consumer durables, metals, energy and realty were powering the markets. On the other hand the IT and technology stocks continued to reel under pressure with US Citizenship and Immigration Services releasing new guidance that computer programmers are no longer presumed to be eligible for H-1B visas, though the Indian information technology services industry body Nasscom has said that the United States government’s new policy memo on H-1B visas is going to have 'little impact' on its member companies.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29955.06, up by 44.84 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 29817.69 and 30007.48. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were outperforming the benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.43%, while Small cap index surged by 1.12%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 4.12%, Consumer Durables up by 2.39%, Telecom up by 1.27%, Metal up by 1.22%, Basic Materials up by 1.14%, while IT down by 0.49%, TECK down by 0.20%, FMCG down by 0.05% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 3.29%, Reliance Industries up by 2.23%, Tata Steel up by 2.09%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.79% and NTPC up by 1.76%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.20%, Infosys down by 0.95%, ITC down by 0.76%, Coal India down by 0.68% and Asian Paints down by 0.56% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, after going through rough phases of government’s surprise decision of scrapping high value banknotes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000, in a crackdown on black money, the country has started recovering and the industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has said that the impact of demonetisation was almost over and the market has started to revive with modest growth in March.

CII president Naushad Forbes has said that recovery from demonetisation is almost over. The country is pretty well back and industry players have also reported about the modest growth in March. He noted that though the impact of demonetisation was significant in November, and consumption fell by as much as 30 per cent, in December, it was down by 10-15 per cent, while during January, it was more or less the same as that of the same period last year.

Forbes further said that the country is at a very good point of economy and is projected to be one of the 10 best economies in the next 25 years. The consumption is very high. It is 60 per cent of our GDP growth. Because of this, the economic growth is resilient. He also suggested that the India Inc should look at life beyond demonetisation and work for the projected economic growth of 9-10 per cent for the next 20-25 years.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9257.50, up by 19.65 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 9215.40 and 9264.95. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 3.36%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.76%, Reliance Industries up by 2.10%, Tata Steel up by 2.03% and Hindalco up by 1.96%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.26%, Indiabulls Housing down by 0.96%, HCL Tech. down by 0.95%, Infosys down by 0.90% and ITC down by 0.71% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were showing mixed trend, Shanghai Composite was up by 45.09 points or 1.4% to 3,267.60, Nikkei 225 gained 51.02 points or 0.27% to 18,861.27, Taiwan Weighted was higher by137.96 points or 1.41% to 9,949.48.

On the other hand, Hang Seng declined by 53.42 points or 0.22% to 24,208.06, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 5.52 points or 0.32% to 1,741.67, Jakarta Composite was lower by 2.21 points or 0.04% to 5,649.61 and KOSPI Index was tad lower by 0.25 points or 0.01% to 2,160.85.