Markets continue flat trade with positive bias

Indian equity benchmarks continued their flat trade with a positive bias in early afternoon session, on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. Sentiments got some support with buying witnessed in Healthcare, IT, TECK and Power stocks. Some comfort also came with a private research enlightened that the implementation of the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code is expected to give a big push to credit growth as international experience shows that laws to resolves bad assets have helped boost credit growth. Gains were however muted with the RBI data showing that India Inc’s overseas direct investment fell over 47 percent to $1.77 billion during July 2017. Indian companies had invested $3.35 billion in the same month of last year. In scrip specific development, Alembic Pharmaceuticals was up by over two and half percent after selling its formulations manufacturing facility at Baddi, Himachal Pradesh to Scott Edil Pharmacia (SEPL) on slump sale basis. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed amid cautious trades after US President Donald Trump's threat to shut down the government if he does not secure funds for building the Mexico border wall. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31587.97, up by 19.96 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 31546.05 and 31678.19. There were 15 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.44%, while Small cap index was up by 0.37%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 2.37%, IT up by 0.88%, TECK up by 0.60%, Power up by 0.33% and Industrials up by 0.32%, while Realty down by 0.56%, Metal down by 0.20%, Telecom down by 0.16%, Bankex down by 0.14% and Auto down by 0.10% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Lupin up by 3.84%, Sun Pharma up by 3.14%, Infosys up by 2.21%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.90% and Cipla up by 1.14%. On the flip side, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.31%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.11%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.75%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.65% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.49% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s agricultural sector has potential to double the income of farmers and grow exports to $100 billion by 2022. According to Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI) president Rajju Shroff, now the country ranks second-largest food producer in the world, touching $367 billion in 2014. He said that global exports in agricultural products is over $1,500 billion annually as per the latest data from WTO and of which India’s share is less than $35 billion. He also said that they have urged the government to increase focus on trebling India’s share in agri exports to double farmer income by 2022.

A not-for-profit organisation Centre for Environment and Agriculture (Centegro) in its report also emphasized the need to raise India's share in global agri exports to increase farmers' income automatically. It noted that India ranks second globally in agricultural production, whereas in services and manufacturing sectors its position stood at 11th and 12th respectively. It further stated that agriculture’s contribution to India’s economy extends beyond the rural economy and encompasses many activities in manufacturing and services sector.

The report pointed out that export surplus from the country’s agricultural trade is higher than the corresponding figure achieved by the manufacturing sector. In line with 'Make in India' campaign, the report urged the government to launch ‘Grow In India’ campaign aiming for substantial gains in agri-exports with a single authority to monitor India's international agricultural trade-both exports and imports.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9854.50, up by 2.00 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 9848.85 and 9881.50. There were 25 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Lupin up by 3.64%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 3.01%, Sun Pharma up by 2.90%, Infosys up by 2.36% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.77%. On the flip side, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.32%, Vedanta down by 1.17%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.10%, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 1.03% and Ambuja Cement down by 0.96% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 decreased 80.87 points or 0.42% to 19,353.77, Jakarta Composite dipped 22.88 points or 0.39% to 5,891.14 and Shanghai Composite was down by 14.12 points or 0.43% to 3,273.59. On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 9.44 points or 0.4% to 2,375.84, Taiwan Weighted was up by 82.15 points or 0.79% to 10,488.96 and Hang Seng rose 125.14 points or 0.46% to 27,526.81.