Indian bourses continue to trade in positive territory

Key benchmark indices despite losing some momentum continued to trade in positive territory in the afternoon session, led by gains in frontline blue chip stocks such as Tata Motors, GAIL India, Adani Ports & SEZ and Hindustan Unilever among others. Sentiments remained positive with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that our aim is that India must be an engine of growth as well as an example in climate friendly development in the years to come. Moreover, covering-up of pending short positions by speculators in view of tomorrow’s May monthly expiry in the derivatives segment too supported the market. In scrip specific development, Cerebra Integrated Technologies was up by around seven percent after receiving consent from Karnataka State Pollution Control Board to start production for its E-Waste recycling plant setup on a 12 acre land at Narsapura Industrial Area, Old Madras Road.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as investors awaited the minutes of the Fed's last policy meeting for further clues as to the pace and timing of possible interest rate hikes through the end of the year. Chinese markets were trading marginally lower after the rating agency Moody’s cut its rating on the Chinese debt to A. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 30449.95, up by 84.70 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 30395.69 and 30534.15. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.41%, while Small cap index was up by 0.06%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Industrials up by 0.89%, Oil & Gas up by 0.72%, Auto up by 0.40%, Energy up by 0.37% and IT up by 0.34%, while Telecom down by 1.23%, Metal down by 0.93%, Realty down by 0.86%, Basic Materials down by 0.66% and Healthcare down by 0.65% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 3.85%, GAIL India up by 2.48%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.31%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.28% and HDFC up by 1.28%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 2.11%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.44%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.80%, SBI down by 0.80% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.65% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing happiness over improving economic condition of the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that India has improved upon all the macro-economic indicators over the last three years mainly due to universal banking & universal biometric identification and noted that the fiscal deficit, balance of payments deficit and inflation in the country has reduced, while GDP growth rate, foreign exchange reserves and public capital investments have increased.

Modi said the government has remained focused on many challenges such as uplifting farmers & poor, empowering women, ensuring rural communities have access to finance, building infrastructure within financial constraints and maintaining macro-economic stability so that inflation is contained. He noted that two crucial factors behind India`s growth story were universal banking and universal biometric identification. First the government launched Jan Dhan Yojana under which over 280 million bank accounts have been opened for the poor in rural and urban areas and now virtually every Indian family has a bank account. The second crucial element was the universal biometric identification system called Aadhar, which prevents claiming of benefits by those who are not eligible.

Prime Minister while inaugurating the 52nd annual meeting of the African Development Bank said that India had taken huge strides in development and could share with Africa some of the strategies used by his government over the last three years, as most of the challenges facing both India and Africa were the same. Besides, he said that India has had strong ties with Africa for centuries, adding that now Africa will be a top priority for India’s foreign and economic policy.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9405.15, up by 19.00 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 9386.35 and 9431.90. There were 23 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors - DVR up by 4.06%, Tata Motors up by 3.80%, GAIL India up by 2.47%, Indian Oil Corp. up by 2.29% and Yes Bank up by 2.05%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 2.72%, Hindalco down by 2.71%, Cipla down by 2.07%, ACC down by 2.02% and Ambuja Cement down by 1.69% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; KOSPI Index increased 5.6 points or 0.24% to 2,317.34, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 5.94 points or 0.34% to 1,773.11 and Nikkei 225 was up by 129.7 points or 0.66% to 19,742.98. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 51.07 points or 0.89% to 5,679.55, Hang Seng was down by 34.16 points or 0.13% to 25,368.99 and Shanghai Composite declined 9.75 points or 0.32% to 3,052.20.