Markets trade with marginal gains; Metal stocks shine

Indian equity benchmarks were trading with marginal gains in late morning session amid mixed Asian markets. Traders took some encouragement with a joint report by Ficci and Deloitte which stated that Indian retail industry, growing at 10 percent, may almost double to Rs 85 trillion (lakh crore) by 2021 steered by consumer data and technology disruptions. Some support also came with report that the government is planning to make it mandatory for unlisted companies to dematerialize their shares as part of the broader crack down on black money. Buying witnessed in Capital Goods, Metal and FMCG stocks also helped the indices to remain in green territory. Meanwhile, in order to augment domestic supplies ahead of the festive season, the government has allowed import of 3 lakh tonnes of raw sugar at concessional duty of 25 percent.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, following the lackluster cues overnight from Wall Street after European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi hinted that decisions about the future of the ECB's massive stimulus may be decided in October. Investors were cautious as they await the release of China's trade data for August later in the day.

Back home, in scrip specific development, Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals traded higher after the company delivered the ship ‘Ratna Namrata’ to the buyer - Gizmo Shipping, Malta on September 7, 2017. With the delivery and sale of the said last ship of the company, the company has completed the sale / disposal of all the ships forming part of the shipping business. Hence, the company ceases to have any shipping business operations.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31693.79, up by 31.05 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 31642.79 and 31763.70. There were 13 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.06%, while Small cap index was up by 0.40%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 2.39%, Industrials up by 1.27%, Metal up by 1.04%, Basic Materials up by 0.59% and FMCG up by 0.40%, while Healthcare down by 0.71%, Realty down by 0.44%, Power down by 0.39%, Energy down by 0.31% and PSU down by 0.25% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 4.34%, Tata Steel up by 1.12%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.75%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.65% and HDFC Bank up by 0.53%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 3.08%, Sun Pharma down by 1.87%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.26%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.01% and Lupin down by 0.99% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to boost India’s economic growth, which has been affected by factors like demonetisation, Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has said that the government should focus on three areas namely infrastructure projects, power and exports. He also said that one should not be pessimistic that good times are over but there is a need to worry. He pointed out that country’s GDP growth rate had started to drop even before demonetisation move on November 8 last year. Subsequently, he noted that note ban has had more substantial effect over the next few quarters.

Rajan said that the country needs to ensure that the infrastructure projects actually get completed and that's a lever that the government can push harder if they are impediments. He also said that the second extremely important area is power which requires reform in terms of improving health of distribution companies. He also said that UDAY has gone some way in financial engineering, let it also go further in terms of reducing the line losses as well as the tariffs. Talking on the third area, he said that India’s exports should ideally pick when exports are growing in rest of Asia.

The GDP growth of India slumped to a three-year low of 5.7 per cent during April-June as manufacturing slowed ahead of the GST launch amid demonetisation effect. The GDP growth was lesser than China for the second straight quarter which registered a record 6.9 percent growth in January-March as well as April-June quarters.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9944.95, up by 15.05 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 9929.35 and 9963.60. There were 27 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 4.18%, Vedanta up by 1.77%, Tata Steel up by 1.39%, Hindalco up by 1.20% and Eicher Motors up by 0.95%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 3.10%, Sun Pharma down by 1.97%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.53%, Lupin down by 1.16% and BPCL down by 1.05% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Jakarta Composite increased 1.07 points or 0.02% to 5,833.39, Shanghai Composite increased 2.09 points or 0.06% to 3,367.59, Taiwan Weighted increased 71.44 points or 0.68% to 10,609.95 and Hang Seng increased 114.48 points or 0.42% to 27,637.40.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 decreased 137.29 points or 0.71% to 19,259.23, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 7.06 points or 0.4% to 1,775.92 and KOSPI Index decreased 3.32 points or 0.14% to 2,342.87.