Markets retain early gains supported by PSU and Capital Goods

Indian equity benchmarks continued to hold onto their early gains in early afternoon trade, with the Nifty climbed to a fresh high of 10,043 and the Sensex surged over 116 points, underpinned by a strong dose of better than expected corporate earnings. Markets mood remained buoyant ahead of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on August 1-2. The RBI is widely expected to come up with a rate cut on the back of all-time low levels of inflation. Some solace also spread among the investors with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement, who underlining the government’s push on reforms has said that in the last three years, the prime minister has been forcing one or two important changes. India has to become a country where it is easy to do business and the businesses are done in the most ethical way. In scrip specific development, Punj Lloyd was up by around a percent after commencing production from the polysilicon Plant in Qatar constructed by the company for its Client, Qatar Solar Technologies.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, after geopolitical tensions in the Korean Peninsula ramped up in recent days and markets digested the release of China PMI data. Growth in China's manufacturing sector slowed marginally in July, reinforcing expectations the world's second-largest economy will cool in coming months as borrowing costs rise and regulators clamp down on riskier types of financing. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32426.15, up by 116.27 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 32324.45 and 32458.03. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.01%, while Small cap index was up by 0.18%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 1.50%, Capital Goods up by 1.48%, Metal up by 1.46%, Bankex up by 1.05% and Consumer Durables up by 0.86%, while Healthcare down by 1.34%, FMCG down by 0.73% and Telecom down by 0.61% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 4.40%, Tata Steel up by 2.86%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.63%, ICICI Bank up by 2.42% and Power Grid up by 2.20%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 2.88%, Sun Pharma down by 2.48%, Lupin down by 2.08%, HDFC down by 1.56% and ITC down by 1.25% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the e-commerce market in India is growing at a rapid pace and is likely to touch $33 billion in the financial year 2017-18. Minister of State for Consumer Affairs C R Chaudhary has noted that the online market surged 19 percent in the previous fiscal.

Talking about the consumer complaints, Chaudhary has stated that as many as 28,770 complaints were registered against the segment on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) last fiscal. He also said that the complaints are forwarded to the companies concerned for resolution. In addition, he clarified that if consumer complaints are not resolved and if there is no response from the company, then consumers are advised to approach appropriate consumer forum. 

The minister further mentioned that at present there is a three-tier quasi-judicial mechanism at the district, state and national levels for redressal of consumer disputes. To protect the interests of consumers, he also pointed out that the government has made several provisions to strengthen the consumer grievance redressal mechanism in a bill which was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August 2015.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10043.10, up by 28.60 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 10016.95 and 10049.45. There were 26 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 4.58%, Bank of Baroda up by 3.81%, Tata Steel up by 2.86%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.66% and ICICI Bank up by 2.50%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 3.04%, Sun Pharma down by 2.68%, Lupin down by 2.25%, HDFC down by 1.71% and HCL Tech. down by 1.52% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; KOSPI Index increased 1.72 points or 0.07% to 2,402.71, Taiwan Weighted surged 4.28 points or 0.04% to 10,427.33, Shanghai Composite was up by 18.55 points or 0.57% to 3,271.79 and Hang Seng added 282.64 points or 1.05% to 27,262.03. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 dipped 34.66 points or 0.17% to 19,925.18, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.83 points or 0.05% to 1,766.25 and Jakarta Composite decreased 0.73 points or 0.01% to 5,830.30.