Benchmarks trade in fine fettle in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks have made a positive start and are trading in fine fettle in early deals on Wednesday, as traders took some support with NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant’s statement that the Goods and Services Tax, to be rolled out next month as the biggest tax reform since independence, will help India achieve 9 percent growth rate. He said GST will simplify India's taxation system and help deal with tax evasion. Sentiments also remained up-beat after the Met Department has upgraded the South-West monsoon forecast to 98 per cent of the long-term average rainfall from 96 per cent earlier. Rainfall during the June-September monsoon season is expected to be normal, with a high possibility of all four broad geographical regions receiving evenly distributed rains.

On the global front, Asian markets trading mostly in red at this point of time. There was cautiousness ahead of a barrage of events due in the next two days. The US markets extended their weakness and ended lower in the last session after another choppy day of trade.

Back home, the government has said that post the abolition of the FIPB, ministries will have to decide on FDI proposals within 60 days of the application and any rejection will need concurrence of the DIPP. Meanwhile, the market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was strong, with 1352 shares gaining and 616 shares declining, while a total of 95 shares were unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31315.42, up by 124.86 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 31229.25 and 31315.82. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.52%, while Small cap index was up by 0.88%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.33%, FMCG up by 0.67%, Telecom up by 0.61%, Basic Materials up by 0.60% and Metal up by 0.57%, while IT down by 0.08% and TECK down by 0.01% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 2.31%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.88%, Sun Pharma up by 1.58%, ICICI Bank up by 1.57% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.32%. On the flip side, TCS down by 0.76%, Tata Motors down by 0.75%, Wipro down by 0.70%, HDFC down by 0.66% and NTPC down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, raising prospects of higher farm and economic growth, India’s nodal weather agency, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has upgraded its monsoon forecast to 98% (with an error margin of +/-4%) of the long period average (LPA) for 2017, from 96% earlier forecasted. It also said that rainfall during the June-September period monsoon season will be normal this year.

According to the weather department, monsoon to be distributed in a very good fashion with the rainfall in central India during the June-September period expected to be 100% of LPA, in the South Peninsula to be 99% of LPA, in the North-Eastern parts of India to be 96% of LPA and, in the North-Western parts of India to be 96% of LPA.

IMD said that the probability of the total seasonal rainfall being in the near normal range of 96-104 per cent of average annual rainfall has increased to 50 per cent from 38 per cent earlier. The improved projection in the latest forecast follows the low probability of a strong El Nino condition emerging during the latter part of the four-month monsoon season.

The Met department has forecasted weak El Nino conditions in the second half of monsoon. Earlier as well IMD had forecasted that the El Nino conditions will remain neutral during monsoon season, and weaken during the second half of monsoon. The IMD though also said that some global models have suggested about 60 per cent chance of weak El Nino conditions developing during the second half of the year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9668.95, up by 31.80 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 9648.00 and 9669.30. There were 36 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 2.11%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.02%, Sun Pharma up by 1.94%, ICICI Bank up by 1.54% and Vedanta up by 1.42%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.30%, Yes Bank down by 0.95%, TCS down by 0.91%, Wipro down by 0.78% and Tata Motors down by 0.65% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng slipped 8.82 points or 0.03% to 25,988.32, Taiwan Weighted shed 7.74 points or 0.08% to 10,198.44, Nikkei 225 decreased 5.84 points or 0.03% to 19,974.06 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 1.59 points or 0.09% to 1,789.42.

On the flip side, KOSPI Index rose 0.43 points or 0.02% to 2,369.05, Jakarta Composite increased 19.09 points or 0.33% to 5,726.92 and Shanghai Composite was up by 28.88 points or 0.93% to 3,131.00.