Benchmarks trade in fine fettle on firm global cues

Buoyed by firm global cues, Indian equity benchmarks have made a gap-up opening and are trading in fine fettle in early deals. Positive trend in Asian markets and on Wall Street mainly aided sentiments after concerns about North Korea’s firing of a missile over Japan ebbed. Back on the domestic front, traders took some encouragement with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that goods and services tax (GST) collections have exceeded estimates in the first month of the landmark levy’s rollout, despite a significant number of assessees not having filed returns yet. Finance Minister said that GST mopup in July pegged at Rs 92,283 crore and could rise further. Some support also came with NITI Aayog’s statement that enhancing access to low-cost capital to businesses could serve as an important vehicle for improving the business environment, especially in poor states like Bihar.  

On the sectoral front, stocks related to Infra sector edged higher, as the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said India could no longer afford to delay modernisation of its infrastructure if the country was to scale new heights. In scrip specific developments, Ujjivan Financial Services rallied around 5% after Ujiivan Small Finance Bank, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, has been included in the second schedule to the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 on August 25, 2017, granting ‘Scheduled Bank’ status to Ujiivan Small Finance Bank. Cadila Healthcare gained around 3% after Zydus Cadila has received establishment inspection report from the US health regulator for its manufacturing facility at the pharma SEZ in Ahmedabad.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31620.55, up by 232.16 points or 0.74% after trading in a range of 31533.02 and 31643.14. There were 29 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged 1.20%, while Small cap index was up by 1.37%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.77%, Oil & Gas up by 1.53%, Basic Materials up by 1.50%, Realty up by 1.32% and Energy up by 1.32%, while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports up by 2.01%, HDFC up by 1.38%, Sun Pharma up by 1.29%, Cipla up by 1.26% and Reliance Industries up by 1.13%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.49% and TCS down by 0.16% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasizing the need of infrastructure development has said that India could no longer afford to delay modernisation of its infrastructure if the country was to scale new heights. He said that if we have to take the nation to new heights, there is a pressing need to modernise our infrastructure.

Modi said that be it rail, road, water or power supply, optical fibre network, waterways, or coastal connectivity, India will not benefit from any further delay in setting up this modern infrastructure

Pointing that earlier governments and policy-makers often avoided time-consuming projects involving large investments, said stuck or slow-paced projects harmed the economy as the cost spiralled manifold over the years. He said it took a lot of resources and efforts to revive a stuck project and stated that his government is committed to completing projects in a time-bound manner, adding that we are trying to bring in a culture that we finish the works we start. The Prime Minister said that once everything was in place, it would bring many positive changes in people's lives.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9874.20, up by 78.15 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 9850.80 and 9883.45. There were 45 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indian Oil Corporation up by 3.22%, Hindalco up by 2.29%, Ambuja Cement up by 1.91%, Vedanta up by 1.89% and Aurobindo Pharma up by 1.74%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 0.63%, Zee Entertainment down by 0.61%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.57%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.26% and TCS down by 0.19% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index rose 0.43 points or 0.02% to 2,365.17, Taiwan Weighted increased 46.1 points or 0.44% to 10,542.67, Nikkei 225 jumped 103.41 points or 0.53% to 19,465.96 and Hang Seng was up by 218.37 points or 0.79% to 27,983.38.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 5.87 points or 0.1% to 5,882.34, Shanghai Composite slipped 0.9 points or 0.03% to 3,364.32 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.21 points or 0.01% to 1,760.93.