Benchmarks extend gains in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks extend gains and were trading near the highest point of the day in late morning session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The rupee opened lower against dollar on Thursday on account of buying of American currency by banks and importers. Foreign portfolio investors stood net sellers in domestic equity markets on Wednesday as they sold shares worth Rs 812.15 crore with gross purchases and gross sales of Rs 3509.28 crore and Rs 4321.43 crore, respectively. Traders were taking some support from report that after a gap of seven years, domestic investors are once again emerging as a force to reckon with in the Indian equity market as foreign fund flows remain volatile. Domestic money flow into Indian equities outstripped foreign fund flows in a cumulative two-year cycle in FY16-17 for the first time in seven years, while a broad-based comparison of stock ownership suggests favourable tailwind for Indian funds and investors. Buying was witnessed in sugar stocks after the government yesterday decided to extend stock limits on sugar traders by another six months till October 2017 to check sweetener prices that are ruling at Rs 42-44 per kg. The move will enable state governments to impose stock limits and licensing requirements in respect of sugar. Traders were seen piling position in Realty, Consumer Durables and Basic Materials stocks, while selling was witnessed in Bankex sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Jaypee Infratech was trading in green after Jaypee Group said it has arranged funds from banks to start construction on its various real estate projects and deliver it to customers.

On the global front, Asian shares were trading mostly in green, as signs of resilience emerged in some markets, while steadying commodity prices - especially for oil - prompted some bargain hunting among investors. Japan reported that March exports rose 12% on year, against a 6% increase projected by analysts for the fourth consecutive month of gains, while imports rose 15.8%, well above the 10.4% increase seen. The trade surplus came in at 615 billion yen, wider than the 576 billion yen increase seen. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 9,100 and 29,400 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1543:694, while 123 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29425.80, up by 89.23 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 29341.68 and 29442.24. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.67%, while Small cap index was up by 0.91%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.49%, Consumer Durables up by 1.17%, Basic Materials up by 1.04%, PSU up by 0.76% and Oil & Gas up by 0.63%, while Bankex down by 0.34% was the sole loser on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 4.12%, HDFC up by 2.54%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 1.50%, ONGC up by 1.45% and HDFC Bank up by 1.03%.

On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 2.06%, Axis Bank down by 1.64%, Power Grid down by 0.52%, NTPC down by 0.46% and Wipro down by 0.24% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, raising concern over the H-1B visa issue, the industry body, Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) in its latest report has said that tightening H-1B visa regime in the United States will force IT giants to create fundamental changes to their strategies in terms of hiring, salaries and jobs, which could impact employees in India too. It further stated that as the cost pressure would increase, aggravated by rising rupee leading to lower realizations, Indian IT companies may be forced to displace workforce and added that in that case, the chances of layoffs are real.

As per the Assocham report, nearly 86% of the H-1B visas issued for workers in the computer space go to Indians and this figure is now sure to be scaled down to about 60% or even less. Cautioning against a huge decline in remittances from US, Assocham said that the US move could disturb remittances by 8-10 percent. As per the World Bank data the US was the second largest source of remittance for India in 2015, behind Saudi Arabia, and about $10.96 billion, nearly 16% of the total inflows, were sent to India.

The industry body further said that with Britain already hiking the minimum wage requirement to euro 35,000 for tier II visa immigrants, this latest move by the US will act as a definitive dampener to the Indian outsourcing industry. As per its report, the alternate solutions for the Indian outsourcing industry are investing near shore centres - facilities close to the US, focus on local hiring in America, and to work virtually, which is becoming easier with the wider adoption of cloud services and greater digitisation.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9133.50, up by 30.00 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 9102.65 and 9135.95. There were 33 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 4.37%, Grasim Industries up by 3.51%, HDFC up by 2.52%, Bank of Baroda up by 2.29% and ONGC up by 1.53%.

On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 3.72%, ICICI Bank down by 1.80%, Axis Bank down by 1.59%, Tata Power down by 0.76% and NTPC down by 0.64% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.34 points or 0.13% to 1,741.29, KOSPI Index increased 9.87 points or 0.46% to 2,148.27, Nikkei 225 increased 64.01 points or 0.35% to 18,496.21 and Hang Seng increased 101.26 points or 0.43% to 23,927.14.

On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted decreased 6.43 points or 0.07% to 9,633.51, Jakarta Composite decreased 5.68 points or 0.1% to 5,600.83 and Shanghai Composite decreased 1.49 points or 0.05% to 3,169.20.