Markets at day's highs; Sensex climbs 299 points

Continuing with their upward trend, Indian equity benchmarks traded with gains of a per cent each in late afternoon session, on the day of expiry of May futures and options (F&O) contracts. Sentiments remained positive with the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) statement that the government's move to abolish the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) will boost FDI inflows into the country. It also noted that the move will contribute to the country’s growth and reassures investors that ease of doing business remains a high priority for the government. Traders also took encouragement with the FICCI’s report that new public procurement policy is a legitimate tool under multilateral commitments and will promote value addition, drive manufacturing and create additional jobs in the country. Asian markets hitting their two-year highs after the US Federal Reserve signalled a more cautious approach to future rate hikes, also contributed to the gains. Meanwhile, India’s engineering exports to Israel grew up by more than six times in April this year over the same month in 2016. According to EEPC, as against engineering exports of just about $20 million in April, 2016, the shipments of these goods have gone up significantly to $146.42 million in April this fiscal, which is a whopping 640 percent or more than six times growth.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red as investors turned cautious ahead of the OPEC talks and the latest leg of U.S. President Donald Trump's first foreign trip since taking office. However, Asian markets were trading in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, Bharat Forge was trading higher after the company reported a rise of 25.32% in its net profit after tax at Rs 207.50 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2017, as compared to Rs 165.57 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 30600.72, up by 299.08 points or 0.99% after trading in a range of 30352.26 and 30609.66. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.97%, while Small cap index was up by 1.49%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 2.85%, Industrials up by 2.00%, Bankex up by 2.00%, IT up by 1.70% and TECK up by 1.55%, while Healthcare down by 2.15% was the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 3.94%, ICICI Bank up by 3.31%, GAIL India up by 3.09%, HDFC Bank up by 2.26% and Infosys up by 2.17%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 8.55%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 3.77%, Cipla down by 3.29%, Sun Pharma down by 2.46% and Tata Steel down by 1.08% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, industry body, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has welcomed the government’s commitment to reforms, with the abolition of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and the approval for the much-awaited strategic partnership model. CII noted that these will contribute to the country’s growth and reassures investors that ease of doing business remains a high priority for the government.

On the decision of phasing out of 25- year-old FIPB, CII said that the move would take Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows to greater heights and reinforce the attractiveness of India as a viable business destination.  It further said that the move would streamline the process of FDI approvals, easing the flow of foreign capital into the country.

Industry body further said that the forging of strategic partnership for defence under the 'Make in India' initiative would give a fillip to indigenisation of India's defence industry and pave the way for greater transfer of technology from foreign firms to domestic partners in India.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9456.85, up by 96.30 points or 1.03% after trading in a range of 9379.20 and 9459.55. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 3.97%, ICICI Bank up by 3.29%, Bosch up by 2.95%, GAIL India up by 2.94% and Indusind Bank up by 2.73%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 8.58%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 3.69%, Cipla down by 3.01%, Sun Pharma down by 2.55% and Tata Steel down by 1.29% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 3.19 points or 0.18% to 1,774.20, KOSPI Index increased 25.59 points or 1.1% to 2,342.93, Shanghai Composite increased 43.76 points or 1.43% to 3,107.83, Taiwan Weighted increased 64.07 points or 0.64% to 10,108.49, Nikkei 225 increased 70.15 points or 0.36% to 19,813.13 and Hang Seng increased 202.28 points or 0.8% to 25,630.78.

All the European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 75.49 points or 0.6% to 12,567.38, France’s CAC decreased 14.04 points or 0.26% to 5,327.30 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 13.87 points or 0.18% to 7,501.03.