Benchmarks trade with modest gains in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their sanguine trade with modest gains in late morning session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The rupee opened lower against dollar on account of buying of American currency by banks and importers. Foreign Portfolio Investors stood net sellers in domestic equity markets on Monday and sold shares worth Rs 694.11 crore with gross purchases and gross sales of Rs 7994.39 crore and Rs 8688.50 crore, respectively. Traders took some encouragement with India, pitching for a greater engagement with BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations on issues the international community addressed during BRICS Foreign Ministers meeting in Beijing. Meanwhile, a foreign brokerage firm enlightened that there were fewer concerns the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rollout in India will be inflationary as most essential goods and services have been exempted from the new regime. The reform is set to be implemented from July 1 and will subsume most of other levies like exercise and service tax, and bring the country under a single taxation regime. In its economic report it highlighted that the tax incidence is likely to rise mainly on selected service sector categories after the GST is implemented.

Traders were seen piling up position in Consumer Durables, IT and TECK stocks, while selling was witnessed in Metal, Realty and PSU stocks. In scrip specific development, Lanco Infratech was locked at lower circuit limit after the power and roads builder, became the first company to face bankruptcy proceedings among the dozen identified by the regulator as IDBI Bank has decided to recover its dues by taking the resolution to insolvency courts. Shares of aviation companies like InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo), Jet airways and SpiceJet were trading in green after domestic air traffic grew at 17.36 per cent with airlines ferrying 101.74 lakh passengers in May as compared to 86.69 lakh passengers in the same month last year.

On the global front, Asian shares were trading mostly in green amid speculation heightened on whether China would be added to the MSCI emerging markets index on the fourth try. Confidence among Japanese manufacturers bounced in June to match a decade-high level recorded in April and is expected to rise for several months, providing more evidence of economic recovery. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 9,650 and 31,300 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1138:1032, while 107 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31366.82, up by 55.25 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 31318.87 and 31392.53. There were 17 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.51%, while Small cap index was up by 0.48%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.47%, IT up by 0.81%, TECK up by 0.74%, Industrials up by 0.60% and Telecom up by 0.54%, while Metal down by 0.11%, Realty down by 0.08%, PSU down by 0.07% and Bankex down by 0.04% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 2.20%, Infosys up by 1.63%, ONGC up by 0.99%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 0.95% and ICICI Bank up by 0.77%.

On the flip side, Lupin down by 1.00%, HDFC down by 0.59%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.55%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.52% and HDFC Bank down by 0.37% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India has pitched for a greater cooperation with the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations on security and counter terrorism issues, faced rampantly by the international community. Minister of State for External Affairs General V K Singh has said that all the five nations have reached significant understanding and steadily expanded its agenda from only concerning the financial matters to the matters of security and counter terrorism.

VK Singh has said that India attached its utmost importance to all the BRICS nations and will continue to work closely with all partners with mutual trust, respect and transparency to further enhance bonds. He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid special emphasis on people to people exchanges in the BRICS process. He added that PM has repeatedly underscored the importance of BRICS in the international arena and stressed the importance of intra BRICS cooperation.

Emphasizing on the significant influence, Singh said that India and China wield on crucial global matters and the two countries must look ahead to enhance cooperation among BRICS nations. He also said that Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and other multilateral frameworks should promote peace and stability in the Asian region as well as the world at large.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9673.15, up by 15.60 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 9655.60 and 9676.50. There were 28 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Power up by 3.40%, Tata Motors up by 2.18%, Infosys up by 1.67%, Ambuja Cement up by 1.28% and HCL Tech up by 1.04%.

On the flip side, GAIL India down by 1.17%, Lupin down by 1.12%, Bank of Baroda down by 0.77%, Eicher Motors down by 0.68% and HDFC down by 0.61% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite increased 0.77 points or 0.02% to 3,145.14, Jakarta Composite increased 9.79 points or 0.17% to 5,751.70, Taiwan Weighted increased 77.65 points or 0.76% to 10,328.25 and Nikkei 225 increased 227.9 points or 1.14% to 20,295.65.

On the other hand, Hang Seng decreased 28.32 points or 0.11% to 25,896.23, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 7.69 points or 0.43% to 1,781.21 and KOSPI Index decreased 1.56 points or 0.07% to 2,369.34.