Markets trade at high points of the day led by oil & gas and metal stocks

Showing firm trend the Indian markets are at their session high at mid day of trade, with Nifty 50 once again reclaiming its crucial level on 9900. Not only the bluechips but the broader markets too have equally participated in the rally today helping the major bourses to recover all their last session losses. Some gain in Asian peers too was supporting the markets, as some regional indices turned higher on easing of geopolitical tensions surrounding North Korea. Traders on the domestic front were once again concentrating on the strong fundamentals of the country taking cues from the report that the GST collection for July exceeded Rs 91,000 crore target for central and state taxes. Traders were getting additional support with Finance Ministry’s statement that it is not worried about its deficit goalposts for 2017-18 and it will be met though robust tax revenue and higher receipts from disinvestment in the latter half of the year.

All the sectoral indices were trading in green on the BSE, led by Metal, Oil & Gas and Energy, closely followed by realty and Basic materials. Infrastructure Index on the BSE was showing firm trend since morning after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated that India could no longer afford to delay modernisation of its infrastructure if the country was to scale new heights.

In scrip specific movement, NTPC was trading higher by over a percent, the company’s OFS received a hearty response from non-retail investors and was subscribed 1.4 times on Tuesday. As many as 46.35 crore bids were received for the 32.98 crore shares on offer for non-retail investors.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31704.27, up by 315.88 points or 1.01% after trading in a range of 31533.02 and 31727.98. There were 30 stocks advancing against just 1 declining stock on the index.

The broader indices too were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.39%, while Small cap index gained 1.43%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 2.40%, Metal up by 2.30%, Energy up by 2.24%, Realty up by 1.76% and Basic Materials up by 1.76%, while there were no losers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 2.08%, Reliance Industries up by 1.99%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.37%, Coal India up by 1.30% and Tata Motors up by 1.21%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.05% was the lone loser.

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 9903.05, up by 107.00 points or 1.09% after trading in a range of 9850.80 and 9909.45. There were 48 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indian Oil Corp. up by 4.25%, Hindalco up by 3.96%, BPCL up by 3.10%, Yes Bank up by 2.21% and Ambuja Cement up by 2.07%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 0.67%, HCL Tech. down by 0.57% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.01% were the losers.

The Asian markets were showing mixed trend, KOSPI Index was up by 7.55 points or 0.32% to 2,372.29, Taiwan Weighted gained 72.83 points or 0.69% to 10,569.40, Nikkei 225 was higher by 143.99 points or 0.74% to 19,506.54 and Hang Seng surged by 282.25 points or 1.02% to 28,047.26.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite declined by 7.16 points or 0.21% to 3,358.07, Jakarta Composite was down by 3.97 points or 0.07% to 5,884.25 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was tad lower by 0.31 points or 0.02% to 1,760.83.