Markets trade higher in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade higher in late morning session on buying by investors amid better-than-expected earnings. Sentiments remained optimistic with the National Securities Depository’s (NSDL) report stating that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have pumped in over $25.4 billion into the Indian equity and debt market segments thus far in calendar year 2017 (CY17).Besides, speculators covering up their short positions ahead of the July derivatives contract expiry tomorrow, too supported the sentiments. Investors also took encouragement with the finance ministry’s statement that the proposed anti-profiteering authority under the GST will bolster consumer confidence and ensure that the intended benefits of the new indirect tax regime reach the common man. Meanwhile, as per RBI data, India Inc's borrowings from foreign sources like external commercial borrowings (ECBs) and rupee bonds stood at USD 1.63 billion in June.
 
On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s policy outcome. The Fed concludes a two-day meeting later in the day and is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged. Back home, in scrip specific development, Hexaware Technologies traded higher after the company launched its new Professional Services unit and the appointment of Arun Ramchandran as Executive Vice President and Head of the Professional Services Vertical.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32304.40, up by 76.13 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 32226.08 and 32325.67. There were 20 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.47%, while Small cap index was up by 0.77%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.57%, Realty up by 1.33%, Utilities up by 1.07%, Energy up by 0.88% and Basic Materials up by 0.86%, while Telecom down by 0.96%, TECK down by 0.39% and IT down by 0.13% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 1.88%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.81%, Reliance Industries up by 1.35%, ICICI Bank up by 1.10% and Sun Pharma up by 0.86%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.14%, Asian Paints down by 1.92%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.15%, TCS down by 0.54% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.28% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (Uday) is slowly putting the ailing state power distribution companies back in shape and reducing the duration of blackouts in the nearly two years since its beginning. The Ministry of Power has stated that the combined losses of state-run power utilities in 26 states and the Union territory of Puducherry in 2016-17 fell 21.5% from a year ago to Rs 40,295 crore. The Ministry further said that there has been a 46 per cent fall in CPSU dues from June 2016 to May 2017.

Data presented on review of 'Uday' showed major improvements in the key parameters on which health of discoms are judged. According to data submitted by state governments, the estimated dues of Discoms stood at Rs 15,158 crore in June 2016, which got reduced to Rs 13,005 crore in January 2017 and further to Rs 8,159 crore in May 2017.

At an overall level, the ACS-ARR gap reduced from 59 paisa per unit in 2016-2017 to about 45 paisa per unit at present. Simultaneously, the average AT&C loss for all states that signed up for UDAY came down to 20% this fiscal. The government has also stated that the average duration of power cuts declined 61% to 7.45 hours a month in May this year from 19.38 hours in the year-ago period. The UDAY scheme allowed state governments to take over half the outstanding debt of utilities in 2015-16 and another 25% in 2016-17. The remaining was to be refinanced by the distribution companies through state-guaranteed bonds, which would help them reduce interest cost.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9990.15, up by 25.60 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 9965.95 and 9997.00. There were 34 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 2.68%, GAIL India up by 2.58%, Tata Steel up by 1.94%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.81% and Eicher Motors up by 1.63%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.00%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.99%, Asian Paints down by 1.81%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.42% and ACC down by 1.37% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Jakarta Composite increased 6.99 points or 0.12% to 5,820.52, Hang Seng increased 42.92 points or 0.16% to 26,894.97 and Nikkei 225 increased 78.94 points or 0.4% to 20,034.14.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted decreased 44.11 points or 0.42% to 10,419.04, KOSPI Index decreased 9.08 points or 0.37% to 2,430.82, Shanghai Composite decreased 0.98 points or 0.03% to 3,242.71 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 0.42 points or 0.02% to 1,762.92.