Sensex, Nifty trade with marginal gains

Indian equity benchmarks were trading marginally higher in late morning session, on the back of higher Asian markets along with buying in Oil & Gas, Realty and PSU stocks. Sentiments remained upbeat with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the rollout of Goods and Services Tax (GST) was extremely smooth in the country. Some support also came with the report that the government may impose anti- dumping duty on castings for wind operated power generators from China to guard domestic players from below-cost imports. However, heavy selling in IT and TECK stocks restricted the markets’ gains. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced creation of a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) -- Bharat-22 -- that will comprise shares of 22 central public sector enterprises, state-owned banks and some holding in SUUTI.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green after strong US hiring data bolstered optimism about economic growth in the world's largest economy. Back home, in scrip specific development, Indian Hume Pipe Company was trading higher after the company secured a work order of Rs 257.44 crore from Madhya Pradesh Urban Development Company for improvement of water supply in Bhedaghat, Katangi, Patan, Majholi & Panagar Nagar Parishads and Sihora Nagar Palika in Jabalpur District and Tendukheda Nagar Parishad in Damoh District in Madhya Pradesh including Operation and Maintenance for a period 10 years.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32366.79, up by 41.38 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 32295.78 and 32396.14. There were 14 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.91%, while Small cap index was up by 0.92%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.10%, Realty up by 1.08%, PSU up by 1.02%, Metal up by 0.89% and Utilities up by 0.76%, while IT down by 0.95% and TECK down by 0.77% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 3.16%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.61%, ICICI Bank up by 1.76%, SBI up by 1.16% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.98%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.48%, Infosys down by 1.23%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.78%, Asian Paints down by 0.76% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, NITI Aayog Member Bibek Debroy has stated that it is not reasonable to connect the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime with slowdown in manufacturing output as the issues that the sector is facing goes beyond the tax reform. He also said that these are very temporary things which they don't need to worry about because it is a blip that will go away once the transition is complete.

Debroy has said that about manufacturing, there is a long list of problems that are ailing the sector such as physical infrastructure, including power and transport, procedures, tax issues -- direct as well indirect -- and credit-related issues. He noted that these problems were not new and had been ailing the sector for a long time.

The NITI Aayog Member further mentioned that there are several significant measures taken by current government to improve the sector's performance but it would take some time for them to bear results. He also said that none of them will solve things in six months. He pointed out that most of what this government has done on manufacturing is what economists would call supply side measures, so it takes time and there is no instant fix.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10080.10, up by 13.70 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 10057.70 and 10088.10. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 3.13%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.58%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 1.87%, ICICI Bank up by 1.76% and SBI up by 1.23%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.48%, Infosys down by 1.17%, Bosch down by 0.90%, Asian Paints down by 0.87% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.78% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.61 points or 0.03% to 1,775.14, KOSPI Index increased 4.8 points or 0.2% to 2,400.25, Shanghai Composite increased 4.93 points or 0.15% to 3,267.01, Jakarta Composite increased 25.72 points or 0.45% to 5,803.20, Taiwan Weighted increased 72.82 points or 0.69% to 10,579.38, Nikkei 225 increased 110.8 points or 0.56% to 20,063.13 and Hang Seng increased 117.67 points or 0.43% to 27,680.35.