Sensex, Nifty remain in positive territory in late morning session

Indian key benchmarks remained in the positive territory in late morning session, on account of buying in Healthcare, Energy and Power stocks amid higher Asian markets. Traders took some encouragement from India's industrial output data which expanded by a modest 1.2% in July, 2017, after contracting 0.17% in June, possibly on the back of some restocking by companies following the July 1 goods and services tax (GST) rollout and a marginal uptick in the core sector. Adding to the optimism, industry body FICCI asked for a cut in interest rates and more reforms at the state level to revive investments. However, some gains got trimmed with the report that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or retail inflation jumped to five month high of 3.36% in the month of August 2017, mainly due to an increase in foods prices and higher services costs, indicating Goods and Services Tax’s (GST’s) inflationary impact.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, cheered by record highs on Wall Street, while the dollar's rise against the yen helped boost Japanese shares. Back home, in scrip specific development, Orient Bell shined after the company reported over 21 fold rise in its net profit at Rs 23.77 crore for the quarter under review as compared to Rs 1.09 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. However, total income of the company decreased by 3.66% at Rs 143.11 crore for Q1FY18 as compared to Rs 148.55 crore for the corresponding quarter previous year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32227.45, up by 68.79 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 32137.71 and 32258.28. There were 17 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.41%, while Small cap index was up by 0.37%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.39%, Energy up by 1.39%, Power up by 0.60%, Utilities up by 0.59% and Realty up by 0.59%, while FMCG down by 0.65%, Metal down by 0.47%, Capital Goods down by 0.41% and Basic Materials down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.08%, Reliance Industries up by 2.90%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 2.20%, Lupin up by 1.09% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.02%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.64%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.17%, HDFC down by 0.68%, Tata Steel down by 0.61% and Coal India down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to maintain a sustained Indian economic growth of 9-10 percent per annum, a joint study carried out by the industry body Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and EY have said that the government should focus more on ways to push manufacturing sector growth and it is crucial that the sector grows steadily at 14–15 percent per annum over the next three decades.

The joint report titled ‘Sustaining India’s growth by accelerating manufacturing’ has stated that even though rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime has addressed several regulatory issues, state governments must look into the issues like bureaucratic obstacles, obstructive regulations and policies to boost manufacturing sector. Adding further, it noted that manufacturing sector in each Indian state and union territory (UT) has the potential to grow either directly by setting up new industries  or by creating ancillary facilities, infrastructure and necessary forward-backward linkages to existing ones.

The ASSOCHAM-EY study further said that for states, the best way to grow is to focus on industries where a particular state has competitive edge over others in terms of raw material availability, demand, user industries, logistics and availability of skilled manpower, besides geographical location. It also said that the government's Make in India initiative will help elevate country’s manufacturing sector as it aims to increase share of manufacturing in the GDP to 25 percent from current 16 percent and to create 100 million new jobs by 2022.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10106.30, up by 13.25 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 10084.05 and 10120.70. There were 27 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Power up by 5.68%, Sun Pharma up by 3.39%, Reliance Industries up by 2.93%, Bank of Baroda up by 2.29% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 2.19%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.67%, ITC down by 1.67%, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 1.46%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.31% and Hindalco down by 0.94% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 0.73 points or 0.03% to 2,366.20, Jakarta Composite increased 1.66 points or 0.03% to 5,874.03, Shanghai Composite increased 1.81 points or 0.05% to 3,381.29 and Nikkei 225 increased 92.21 points or 0.47% to 19,868.83.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted decreased 77.47 points or 0.73% to 10,532.88, Hang Seng decreased 74.88 points or 0.27% to 27,897.36 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.43 points or 0.08% to 1,788.43.