Benchmarks trade in green; Oil & Gas, Energy lead

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in morning session, on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters, amid view of caution due to US Fed’s testimony today, which is expected to provide timing on balance sheet trimming. The rupee opened higher against dollar on account of selling of American currency by banks and exporters. Foreign Portfolio Investors stood net buyers in domestic equity markets on Tuesday and bought shares worth Rs 161.95 crore with gross purchases and gross sales of Rs 2,301.25 crore and Rs 2,139.30 crore, respectively. Traders took some encouragement with statement from Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will help bring down the inflation by one to two percent by the end of this year. He also said that the government’s objective is to ensure that inflation does not increase, and added that the government has tried to keep items frequently used by the consumers under the lower tax bracket. Meanwhile, Finance minister Arun Jaitley has called for more credit disbursement towards the unorganized sector, saying it will help push employment growth. Jaitley said diverting resources of banks and financial institutions through various schemes towards the unorganized sector will help create more jobs in the country. Investors took note that the commerce department instructed various ministries to analyze data and compile lists of products which are being produced domestically but losing market share to imports. India is looking to impose restrictions and standards on products where imports have replaced domestic production, an attempt to give a push to ‘Make in India’ programme and reduce the widening trade gap.

Traders were seen piling up position in Oil & Gas, Energy and PSU stocks, while selling was witnessed in IT sector stocks. In scrip specific development, liquor stocks were buzzing after the Supreme Court clarified that the ban on sale of alcohol within 500 m of any state or national highway will not cover roads within city limits if these lose the highway tag post denotification. Tata Global Beverages (TGBL) was trading in green on report that the company decided to sell its stake in various Tata group listed companies to its parent, Tata Sons, in the next few months. TGBL owns close to Rs 755 crore worth of stake in other Tata group firms, especially in Tata Chemicals.

On the global front, Asian shares were trading mostly in red, while shares in Hong Kong put in a strong showing. Investors across Asia are now looking forward to a raft of economic data coming out on Thursday and Friday as well as the testimony of US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen. Back home, the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty were trading above the psychological 31,800 and 9,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1293:920, while 127 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31810.55, up by 63.46 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 31755.32 and 31865.69. There were 19 stocks advancing against 12 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 0.22%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.29%, Energy up by 1.18%, PSU up by 0.71%, Utilities up by 0.62% and Power up by 0.53%, while IT down by 0.14% was the sole loser on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.43%, ONGC up by 1.34%, Reliance Industries up by 1.24%, Power Grid up by 0.78% and Tata Motors - DVR up by 0.74%.

On the flip side, TCS down by 0.58%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.28%, Axis Bank down by 0.27%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.26% and Sun Pharma down by 0.22% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, highlighting the importance of procurement through the Government e-Market (GeM) platform, Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that GeM platform has led to a 20-30 per cent reduction in prices compared to before and added, she was glad that GeM was being recognised as the national e-procurement portal. Most importantly, the sellers do not have to run around from pillar to post to get their payment, which is made within 10 days of the delivery of goods.

The Minister said that the Central and state governments procure goods and services worth over Rs 5 lakh crore annually, and the GeM could help in saving a considerable amount of tax payers. She further said that if that is the quantum of taxpayers money being spent on procurement of goods for the government, there needs to be an open and transparent process and, therefore, bringing it on board a platform like GeM is absolutely important.

Sitharaman added that of Rs 5 lakh crore, even if we save 10 per cent because of the transparent way in which we do business, it would be a great saving for the public exchequer. She further said that GeM promotes ease of doing business for both buyers and sellers and buying goods and services from this portal would help in reducing cost, getting more choices to buyers.

GeM was launched by the commerce ministry to bring greater transparency and efficiency in public procurement. Presently, more than 40,000 products in about 150 product categories and hiring of transport service are available on GeM POC portal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9810.75, up by 24.70 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 9791.20 and 9823.00. There were 34 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.63%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 2.27%, ACC up by 2.01%, Ambuja Cement up by 1.37% and ONGC up by 1.34%.

On the flip side, TCS down by 0.72%, Bank of Baroda down by 0.43%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 0.30%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.28% and HDFC down by 0.26% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 94.89 points or 0.47% to 20,100.59, Shanghai Composite decreased 7.85 points or 0.24% to 3,195.19, KOSPI Index decreased 2.69 points or 0.11% to 2,393.31 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.38 points or 0.08% to 1,753.65.

On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted increased 8.01 points or 0.08% to 10,423.58, Jakarta Composite increased 22.74 points or 0.39% to 5,796.07 and Hang Seng increased 213.51 points or 0.83% to 26,091.15.