Markets continue to trade in green in afternoon deals

Benchmark equity indices continued to trade in green in afternoon deals on the back of strong gains in heavyweights such as ITC, Adani Ports &SEZ, Larsen & Toubro and Tata Motors. Sentiments remained positive with a joint survey carried out by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Indian Bank’s Association (IBA), stating that the country’s economy is set to witness improvement in the overall conditions during the first quarter (Q1) of the current financial year due to improvement in the funding liquidity index, economic activity index and external financial linkages index. Some support also came with Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia’s statement that inflation will fall by 2 percent on implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) and will create buoyancy in the economy. Moreover, firming trend at other Asian markets cheered by the weekend rally at the Wall Street mainly accelerated buying activity on the domestic bourses. In scrip specific development, Phoenix Mills was up by over two percent after entering into a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) for the acquisition of the entire 5.36% equity shareholding of HBS Realtors (HBS) in Offbeat Developers (ODPL).

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, cheered by the latest rally on Wall Street. Investors shrugged off a weekend missile test by North Korea that raised further concerns on its ability to deliver a nuclear warhead. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 30610.39, up by 145.47 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 30572.59 and 30712.15. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.33%, while Small cap index was down by 0.10%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 2.69%, Capital Goods up by 1.02%, Consumer Durables up by 1.01%, Telecom up by 0.77% and Realty up by 0.74%, while Healthcare down by 1.09%, PSU down by 1.04%, Utilities down by 0.93%, Power down by 0.76% and Oil & Gas down by 0.70% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 4.93%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.89%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.76%, Tata Motors up by 1.48% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.33%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 3.53%, SBI down by 2.97%, Sun Pharma down by 1.98%, Power Grid down by 1.63% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.58% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, a joint survey carried out by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Indian Bank’s Association (IBA), has stated that the country’s economy is set to witness improvement in the overall conditions during the first quarter (Q1) of the current financial year due to improvement in the funding liquidity index, economic activity index and external financial linkages index. However, the survey has anticipated that the cost of funds will rise due to tightening of liquidity in the near future.

Showing a healthy improvement, the CII-IBA Financial Conditions Index moved up to 56.9 for the first quarter of current financial year 2017-18 from 48 in the fourth quarter of financial year 2016-17. The survey further said that the expectation of banks and financial institutions have both improved, brushing up the Economic Activity Index. Besides, the Funding Liquidity and External Financial Linkages Indices have also improved.

The CII-IBA joint survey which is based on participation of 31 leading banks and financial institutions, has also reported that the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) is expected to transform the economy by enabling greater transparency, accountability and widening of the tax net. Besides, it noted that the economy has successfully remonetised itself post demonetization and has moved towards a less cash trajectory along with increase in tax compliance.

Moreover, the report has said that in the current quarter, majority of the respondents expect improvement in mobilisation of funds from money market, corporate bond market, equity market and Reserve Bank of India’s management of the liquidity through liquidity adjustment facility. However, the survey has pointed that the Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending rate (MCLR) rates have witnessed minimal reduction across banks even though there is surplus liquidity in the market and rate cuts on deposits.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9459.25, up by 31.35 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 9445.00 and 9498.65. There were 20 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ITC up by 4.93%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.28%, Bosch up by 2.03%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.95% and HCL Tech up by 1.78%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 3.66%, SBI down by 3.08%, Tata Power down by 2.73%, Ambuja Cement down by 2.49% and Sun Pharma down by 2.11% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.44 points or 0.14% to 1,770.72, KOSPI Index rose 15.55 points or 0.68% to 2,304.03, Jakarta Composite surged 23.12 points or 0.4% to 5,815.01, Taiwan Weighted was up by 49.64 points or 0.5% to 9,997.26, Nikkei 225 added 87.52 points or 0.45% to 19,678.28 and Hang Seng increased 250.11 points or 0.99% to 25,424.98.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 19.22 points or 0.62% to 3,071.41.