Sensex, Nifty manage to hold gain in a volatile day of trade

In a choppy session, Indian equity benchmarks were managing to hold their gains in late afternoon session, with increased buying in IT, TECK and Telecom stocks. Traders’ sentiments remained upbeat with the report that the government revised upward the country's overall foodgrain production by 2.3 million tonnes to a record 275.68 million tonnes in 2016-17 crop year that ended in June. The government approval for a new metro rail policy which opens a big window for private investments across a range of operations, making PPP component mandatory for availing central assistance, was also contributing to the gains. Meanwhile, the government is likely to impose anti-dumping duty of up to $120.14 per tonne on a chemical used in sectors such as dyes and pharmaceuticals from Canada, China and the European Union (EU).

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, as uncertainty surrounding internal US policy continued to put pressure on investor sentiment despite the reduction of the tensions from North Korea. However, Asian markets were trading in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) traded higher after the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Energy Efficiency Services (EESL), under the Ministry of Power, for distribution of energy efficient appliances under the flagship UJALA scheme.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31873.60, up by 102.71 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 31714.10 and 31937.51. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.10%, while Small cap index was up by 0.68%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.99%, TECK up by 1.92%, Telecom up by 1.44%, Realty up by 1.14% and Metal up by 0.97%, while Healthcare down by 0.42%, Auto down by 0.41%, Bankex down by 0.29%, Consumer Durables down by 0.14% and Consumer Disc down by 0.02% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 4.58%, Coal India up by 4.16%, NTPC up by 2.00%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.53% and Reliance Industries up by 0.61%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 1.83%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.25%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.99%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.86% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the proposal of Department of Investment and public Asset Management (DIPAM) for speedy completion of strategic disinvestment transactions of state-owned companies.
 
The DIPAM will set up an Alternative Mechanism (AM) consisting of the Finance Minister, Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Minister of Administrative Department. This three ministers’ group will decide on the matters relating to terms and conditions of the sale from the stage of inviting of Express of Interests (Eols) till inviting of financial bid.

Approval was also given to empower the Core Group of Secretaries (CGD) to take policy decisions with regard to procedural issues and to consider deviations as necessary from time to time for effective implementation of decisions of CCEA.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9926.80, up by 29.50 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 9884.50 and 9947.80. There were 19 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 4.74%, Coal India up by 3.72%, Vedanta up by 2.91%, BPCL up by 2.43% and NTPC up by 2.26%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 2.01%, Cipla down by 1.99%, ACC down by 1.81%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 1.34% and Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.18% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.81 points or 0.1% to 1,775.56, KOSPI Index increased 13.41 points or 0.57% to 2,361.67, Shanghai Composite increased 21.98 points or 0.68% to 3,268.43 and Taiwan Weighted increased 78.98 points or 0.77% to 10,369.37. On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 64.85 points or 0.24% to 27,344.22 and Nikkei 225 decreased 26.65 points or 0.14% to 19,702.63.

All major European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 31.62 points or 0.26% to 12,232.24, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 15.38 points or 0.21% to 7,417.65 and France’s CAC decreased 14.67 points or 0.28% to 5,161.94.