Markets continue firm trade in late morning session

Indian key benchmarks continued their firm trade in late morning session on account of buying in IT, TECK and Realty stocks amid positive global cues. Traders took some encouragement with Niti Aayog’s statement that India has good prospects of achieving over 8 percent growth within 2-3 years. It further said that therefore, the chances of massive cut in the poverty rate in the upcoming decade are excellent. Some support also came with rating agency Moody's latest report stating that the government’s decision to form a panel to consider and oversee mergers amongst public sector banks is credit positive as consolidation would provide scale efficiencies and improve corporate governance. Besides, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and the related Jan Dhan- Aadhaar and Mobile number (JAM) trinity has the potential to link all Indians into one common financial, economic, and digital space, too aided sentiments.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green on fresh hopes Donald Trump will be able to push through market- friendly tax reforms buoyed the sentiments.  Back home, in scrip specific development, Career Point traded higher after the company signed six new agreements in tutorial division including 3 School Association Projects and 3 new Franchisee Centers at multiple locations. The school association projects are with different prestigious and renowned institutions including ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) at Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh), a unit of Indian Army at Mathura (UP) and Gramonnati Mandal at Narayangaon (Maharashtra).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31754.82, up by 158.76 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 31701.67 and 31786.35. There were 19 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.96%, while Small cap index was up by 0.85%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.36%, TECK up by 1.18%, Realty up by 1.18%, Consumer Durables up by 1.16% and Capital Goods up by 1.09%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 3.63%, Sun Pharma up by 2.80%, NTPC up by 2.01%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.92% and Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.72%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.67%, Tata Motors down by 0.91%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.91%, TCS down by 0.61% and ITC down by 0.53% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, global research firm BMI Research in its latest report has said that coal, which powers around three-quarters of India's electricity, will remain the foremost fuel choice for country’s power sector and is expected to account for nearly 68 percent of the total power mix by 2026. It noted that the power sector is also likely to spur as a result of greater demand for fuel driven by underlying economic growth, electrification efforts and power sector reform implemented by the government.

The research arm of the Fitch Group has stated that the key mining sector reforms, over the previous two years has significantly improved the availability of coal for the power sector. However, it also said that the volatility in feedstock will remain a downside risk to coal-fired power generation over the coming years. Adding further, the report said that in the month of August, Coal India announced that out of 120 ongoing projects, 62 coal mining projects were not running on schedule mostly due to postponement in land acquisition, issues related to rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) and forest clearances.

The Research firm further said that over the next decade, the share of hydro-power in the Indian power mix will reduce marginally from around nine percent currently to just over seven percent in 2026, this is despite annual average growth rates in hydro-power generation of 3.8 percent. It also noted that this is due to other sectors, such as coal and gas, outpacing the hydro-power sector in terms of generation growth. It also mentioned that there are a number of large-scale hydro projects under construction and in the advanced planning stage, and added that the government has taken a number of initiatives to accelerate their development. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9907.10, up by 50.05 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 9882.00 and 9916.35. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 3.86%, Eicher Motors up by 2.70%, Sun Pharma up by 2.69%, ACC up by 2.22% and NTPC up by 2.13%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.74%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.38%, Tata Motors down by 1.07%, Bosch down by 0.78% and TCS down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 increased 0.76 points or 0% to 19,453.37, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.95 points or 0.11% to 1,771.12, Taiwan Weighted increased 10.47 points or 0.1% to 10,525.98, Shanghai Composite increased 41.12 points or 1.23% to 3,372.64 and Hang Seng increased 107.18 points or 0.38% to 27,955.34.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 12.76 points or 0.22% to 5,902.60 and KOSPI Index decreased 9.84 points or 0.41% to 2,368.67.