Sensex, Nifty continue bull run in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their bull run in late afternoon session, tracking higher opening in European counterparts. The markets held their gains taking support with Moody’s report that India’s GDP growth will remain in the range of 6.5-7.5% over the next 12-18 months and GST will support the momentum for faster growth. Adding to the optimism, trade body EEPC India noted that India’s exports of engineering goods to China saw a whopping 123% growth at $629 million during April-June this fiscal, driven by an upsurge in shipments of non-ferrous metals. Besides, investors are expecting the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut rates by 25 bps on falling inflation in the coming policy meet, which will start tomorrow.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as investors awaited key economic data that is eurozone unemployment rate and consumer price index late in the day, and digested earnings reports. Asian markets were also trading in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, GHCL edged higher after the company reported a jump of 53.52% in its net profit at Rs 157.86 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2017, as compared to Rs 102.83 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Total income of the company increased by 9.57% at Rs 804.13 crore for Q1FY18 as compared Rs 733.89 crore for the corresponding quarter previous year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32453.26, up by 143.38 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 32324.45 and 32517.28. 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 0.15%, while Small cap index was up by 0.01%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.68%, Metal up by 1.58%, Consumer Durables up by 1.56%, PSU up by 1.18% and Bankex up by 1.17%, while Healthcare down by 1.42%, FMCG down by 0.87% and Telecom down by 0.31% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 3.79%, Larsen & Toubro up by 3.18%, Tata Steel up by 3.08%, ONGC up by 2.46% and ICICI Bank up by 2.20%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 2.95%, Sun Pharma down by 2.68%, Lupin down by 2.16%, ITC down by 1.67% and Cipla down by 1.16% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley emphasizing the value of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) framework to the asset reconstruction companies (ARCs), has said that this framework along with the government’s thrust on resolution represent a unique opportunity for ARCs and private equity (PE) firms, as stressed assets in the banking system still have inherent economic value.

Finance Minister also said that these stressed assets are essentially productive assets and they can be turned around not only to create additional jobs but also to raise national output and added that to achieve this, there is need of timely interventions, transparent price discovery and right management.

While noting government’s efforts towards the cleaning stressed assets, Jaitley said that these efforts which include legislative and regulatory changes, have created an enabling and supportive operational environment for ARCs and for takeover of stressed assets by PE firms/special situation funds. Besides, he said that the increment in market players which indicates an increase interest in the sector also presented an opportunity for banks to offload stressed assets before fully provisioning for them.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10048.95, up by 34.45 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 10016.95 and 10069.45. There were 25 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 3.79%, Tata Steel up by 3.11%, Larsen & Toubro up by 3.06%, Bank of Baroda up by 2.88% and ONGC up by 2.52%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 3.24%, Sun Pharma down by 2.78%, Lupin down by 2.25%, Yes Bank down by 1.76% and ITC down by 1.73% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 1.72 points or 0.07% to 2,402.71, Taiwan Weighted increased 4.28 points or 0.04% to 10,427.33, Jakarta Composite increased 6.27 points or 0.11% to 5,837.30, Shanghai Composite increased 19.79 points or 0.61% to 3,273.03 and Hang Seng increased 344.6 points or 1.28% to 27,323.99. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 decreased 34.66 points or 0.17% to 19,925.18 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 2.53 points or 0.14% to 1,764.55.

All European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 3.81 points or 0.07% to 5,135.20, Germany’s DAX increased 16.05 points or 0.13% to 12,178.75 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 37.54 points or 0.51% to 7,405.91.