Key benchmarks add gains; Energy, Healthcare stocks surge

The local barometer gauges added gains in early afternoon trade, on buying by funds and retail investors. Sentiments got comfort with report that India’s factory output 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. Besides, appreciation in Indian rupee coupled with bouts of buying in Energy, Healthcare, Oil & Gas and banking sector stocks, too supported the market. Investors however maintained a cautious approach with the report that the Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation surged to five-month high in August, mainly due to an increase in foods prices and higher services costs, indicating Goods and Services Tax’s (GST’s) inflationary impact. In scrip specific development, Atul Auto was up by around four percent after signing agreement with engineering major Greaves Cotton to jointly develop power train solutions to meet BS VI norms.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after North Korea said it will accelerate its plans to acquire a nuclear weapon that can strike the US homeland. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32288.63, up by 129.97 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 32137.71 and 32289.32. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.27%, while Small cap index was up by 0.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 2.01%, Healthcare up by 1.77%, Oil & Gas up by 0.65%, Bankex up by 0.50% and Consumer Durables up by 0.49%, while Metal down by 0.82%, Capital Goods down by 0.68%, FMCG down by 0.53%, Basic Materials down by 0.29% and Industrials down by 0.08% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 4.67%, Reliance Industries up by 4.18%, Lupin up by 2.38%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 2.14% and Tata Motors up by 0.89%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.73%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.60%, Tata Steel down by 0.75%, Power Grid down by 0.72% and HDFC down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry CR Chaudhary has said that the government has extended tax benefits to around 67 innovative startups so far with a view to promoting budding entrepreneurs and supporting struggling startups in India. He noted that 3,576 startups have been recognised as on September 7. He also emphasized on the need to ensure that the benefits of Startup India programme should percolate down to entrepreneurs in tier-2/tier-3 cities.   

As part of the Startup India Initiative, Chaudhary said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had unveiled a slew of incentives to boost start-up enterprises like offering a tax holiday and inspector raj-free regime for three years, capital gains tax exemption and Rs 10,000-crore corpus to fund them. The minister also assured full support and facilitation from both the centre and state governments. The minister asked young entrepreneurs to work in areas like agriculture, health, biotechnology and animal husbandry.

Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Secretary Ramesh Abhishek has said that 15 states have brought out their startup policies and through that they are facilitating the young businesses. He also said that startups need support in funding, marketing and infrastructure. He informed that Rs 1,587 crore funds were given to startups so far besides intellectual property related benefits were extended to 639.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10117.60, up by 24.55 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 10084.05 and 10120.70. There were 26 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Power up by 5.12%, Sun Pharma up by 4.71%, Reliance Industries up by 4.21%, Lupin up by 2.39% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 2.11%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 2.08%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.72%, ITC down by 1.69%, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 1.54% and Hindalco down by 1.37% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 78.07 points or 0.28% to 27,894.17, Taiwan Weighted dropped 77.47 points or 0.73% to 10,532.88, KOSPI Index shed 5.29 points or 0.22% to 2,360.18 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 1.44 points or 0.08% to 1,788.42.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite increased 1.16 points or 0.02% to 5,873.54, Shanghai Composite added 3.59 points or 0.11% to 3,383.07 and Nikkei 225 rose 89.2 points or 0.45% to 19,865.82.