Benchmarks add gains in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks added some gains in late afternoon session, continued their northward journey on the back of positive opening in the European markets and healthy buying in Realty, Consumer Durables and Telecom stocks. Sentiments remained upbeat with the report that Tax revenue to the central government rose 18% to Rs 17.1 trillion in the year ended 31 March, aided by steady growth in direct taxes and a sharp jump in excise and service tax receipts. Some support also came with the report that Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) expects the merchandise exports from India to witness double-digit growth at around $315 billion and services exports to be about $185 billion in the financial year (FY) 2017-18. Besides, foreign investors pumped in a little over Rs 49,000 crore in the Indian capital markets in 2016-17 after pulling out a hefty sum in the preceding fiscal. However, gains remained limited ahead of the outcome of Reserve Bank of India's policy meet due tomorrow.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green as investors eyed on fresh economic data and renewed promises on financial regulation from U.S. President Donald Trump. Asian markets were trading mostly in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, Bharat Forge traded higher with the company planning to raise $500 million in an overseas bond sale. The company will use the money to restructure debt and finance expansion.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29964.45, up by 54.23 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 29817.69 and 30007.48. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.37%, while Small cap index was up by 1.14%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 4.43%, Consumer Durables up by 2.67%, Telecom up by 1.65%, Industrials up by 1.32% and Capital Goods up by 1.31%, while IT down by 0.86%, TECK down by 0.31% and FMCG down by 0.09% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 4.07%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 3.89%, Reliance Industries up by 2.50%, Tata Steel up by 1.80% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.66%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.52%, Infosys down by 1.48%, Coal India down by 1.37%, Power Grid down by 0.84% and ITC down by 0.80% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, after making e-procurement from the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) mandatory for all departments, the Commerce Ministry is now planning to set up a company for the management of it. The move will make GeM an autonomous body, which will help in taking all the decisions including those related to finance at a faster pace. The move would also help to take real-time decisions like hiring of manpower.

The GeM is a platform for the Central Government departments to source goods and services online, which also provides the tools of e-bidding and reverse e-auction as well as demand aggregation to facilitate the government users to achieve the best value for the money.

The GeM was launched last year and to make use of this portal, the Finance Ministry has amended the General Financial Rules (GFRs) as per which it is now compulsory to procure items and services from it. Currently, it sells over 9,000 products from 250 categories including computers, stationery and several services. The Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D) who has developed this portal is working on increasing the number of services ranging from cleaning and plumbing services to the digitisation of records. With increasing use of the portal by central government departments, several states have approached the DGS&D for adopting similar practices.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9260.85, up by 23.00 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 9215.40 and 9264.95. There were 31 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 4.12%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 4.12%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.72%, Hindalco up by 2.40% and Reliance Industries up by 2.40%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.61%, Infosys down by 1.41%, Coal India down by 1.36%, HCL Tech. down by 1.28% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.05% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite increased 1.78 points or 0.03% to 5,653.60, Shanghai Composite increased 47.79 points or 1.48% to 3,270.31, Nikkei 225 increased 51.02 points or 0.27% to 18,861.27, Taiwan Weighted increased 137.96 points or 1.41% to 9,949.48 and Hang Seng increased 139.32 points or 0.57% to 24,400.80. On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 4.89 points or 0.28% to 1,742.30 and KOSPI Index decreased 0.25 points or 0.01% to 2,160.85.

European Markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC increased 4.59 points or 0.09% to 5,105.72 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 25.31 points or 0.35% to 7,347.13. On the flip side, Germany’s DAX decreased 22.53 points or 0.18% to 12,259.81.