Markets hit new peaks; Nifty nears 10k mark

Indian equity benchmarks maintained their bull run in late afternoon session to hit new peaks, on sustained buying by domestic and foreign investors amid hopes of healthy quarterly results. Traders took encouragement with Union minister Nitin Gadkari’s statement that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will accelerate the growth and ease of doing business and help in nation building. NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya’s statement that India is likely to clock a 7.5% economic growth in FY18 also supported sentiments. Besides, overseas investors have pumped in $2.4 billion in the capital markets this month, enthused by trouble-free roll-out of GST and on hopes of better corporate earnings, taking the total to $25 billion so far this year. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced a bill to authorise the Reserve Bank of India to direct banking companies to resolve the problem of stressed assets in the Lok Sabha.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, as the weakness of the US dollar continued to affect global markets. Investors kept an eye on oil prices ahead of the joint OPEC and non-OPEC ministerial meeting later in the day to discuss the issue of rising output in Nigeria and Libya. Besides, Auto stocks were under pressure after reports that the EU is investigating alleged collusion between German carmakers on technology. However, Asian markets were trading in green.

Back home, in scrip specific development, IIFL Holdings traded on firm note after the company reported 44.02% rise in its consolidated net profit at Rs 198.09 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2017, as compared to Rs 137.54 crore for the corresponding quarter in the FY17. Total consolidated total revenue of the company increased by 43.46% at Rs 1478.46 crore for quarter under review as compared to Rs 1030.55 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32269.95, up by 241.06 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 32058.33 and 32274.89. There were 22 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.50%, while Small cap index was up by 0.70%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.07%, IT up by 1.04%, FMCG up by 0.95%, TECK up by 0.92% and Consumer Durables up by 0.89%, while Healthcare down by 0.17% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.23%, Wipro up by 2.18%, TCS up by 1.64%, ITC up by 1.59% and HDFC Bank up by 1.54%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 2.15%, ONGC down by 0.94%, Sun Pharma down by 0.80%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.47% and Asian Paints down by 0.42% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, retaining its growth forecast of 7.2 per cent for India for the current fiscal year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its latest update report ‘World Economic Outlook, July 2017’ has said that  the country would grow at 7.7 per cent in 2018-19, keeping growth rates forecast in line with the April 2017 forecast.

IMF further mentioned that even though activity in India slowed following the currency exchange initiative, the growth rate of  7.1 per cent in 2016 was higher than anticipated due to strong government spending and data revisions. It added that the growth in 2016-17 would have been lower had the government not intervened in terms of capital expenditure. It also said that despite China's growth projections being raised by a couple of notches, India's economy would still be the fastest growing among large economies. As per its projections, while India's economy is projected to grow in both 2017-18 and 2018-19, China's economy will expand at the same rate in 2017 at 6.7 per cent as it did in 2016.

IMF further said that inflation in advanced economies remains subdued and generally below targets, while noting that it has also been declining in several emerging economies, such as Brazil, India, and Russia. Furthermore, the report kept its global growth projections unchanged for this and next year at 3.5 per cent and 3.6 per cent respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9974.20, up by 58.95 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 9919.60 and 9977.35. There were 33 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 2.33%, Wipro up by 2.20%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.89%, SBI up by 1.63% and TCS up by 1.63%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 2.25%, Zee Entertainment down by 0.83%, ONGC down by 0.82%, IndusInd Bank down by 0.78% and Indian Oil Corp. down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 1.47 points or 0.06% to 2,451.53, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.03 points or 0.12% to 1,761.19, Shanghai Composite increased 12.62 points or 0.39% to 3,250.60, Jakarta Composite increased 22.46 points or 0.39% to 5,787.88, Taiwan Weighted increased 24.58 points or 0.24% to 10,461.28 and Hang Seng increased 140.74 points or 0.53% to 26,846.83. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 decreased 124.08 points or 0.62% to 19,975.67.

All European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 49.35 points or 0.66% to 7,403.56, Germany’s DAX decreased 39.23 points or 0.32% to 12,200.83 and France’s CAC decreased 6.82 points or 0.13% to 5,110.84.