Bourses manage to keep their head above water in afternoon deals

Indian equity benchmarks managed to keep their head above water in early afternoon session, on the back of buying at Healthcare, Power and Industrials counters. Traders took some support with private report stating that India’s GDP growth is expected to be around 7.1 per cent this fiscal following a likely pick up in industrial production as firms resort to restocking post GST especially ahead of festive season. However, gains were limited as anxiety spread among the investors with data showing that India’s wholesale price index (WPI) inflation for the month of August 2017 jumped to 3.24% as compared to 1.88% in July 2017 and 1.09% in the similar period of the previous year, due an increase in foods articles and vegetable prices. Meanwhile, the rupee was trading at a one-week low against the US dollar, tracking losses in the Asian currencies markets. In scrip specific development, Lupin was up by over a percent after receiving final approval for its Metronidazole Tablets USP, 250 mg and 500 mg from the USFDA to market a generic version of G.D. Searle LLC’s Flagyl Tablets, 250 mg and 500 mg.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red after the release of softer-than-expected China data. Markets also digested the rise in US Treasury yields overnight following tax reform headlines out of Washington. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32231.16, up by 44.75 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 32187.20 and 32328.61. There were 16 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.39%, while Small cap index was up by 0.52%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.68%, Power up by 1.15%, Industrials up by 0.57%, Capital Goods up by 0.46% and Bankex up by 0.41%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.39%, Energy down by 0.22%, Auto down by 0.08%, Telecom down by 0.07% and TECK down by 0.06% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 3.33%, Sun Pharma up by 2.59%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.75%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.59% and Cipla up by 1.53%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 4.24%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.67%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.66%, TCS down by 0.46% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, NITI Ayog chief executive officer (CEO) Amitabh Kant has said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should go for a ten-fold increase in the deposit and advances caps on accounts opened through OTP based e-KYC. He believes that such a liberalisation in the caps will help expand the digital payments journey. Besides, he said that the limit on savings account can be increased to around Rs 10 lakh from the existing Rs 1 lakh and that for loan accounts can be raised to Rs 6 lakh from the current limit of Rs 60,000.

Besides, the RBI had allowed for the one time password (OTP) based electronic know your customer (e-KYC) of accounts to bring customers on board faster as part of the financial inclusion agenda, but set certain caps on the transactions which go through such accounts. Identifying this as an obstacle in the growth of the cashless agenda, Kant said that more reforms are needed on this with priority and also suggested for the need to allow the OTP-based eKYC for credit cards as well.  He also urged the RBI to allow for digital signatures on loan documents, and stated that the central bank is yet to come up with an express notification on it despite the Government of India taking a decision to allow it. 

Apart from that, NITI Aayog CEO has pointed out that there is also the challenge of allowing digitally signed mandates for repayment of loans which needs to be looked into. He said that they have several areas of regulatory action and there is a need to push for reforms in a bigger way. Adding further, he said that the banks also need to great up to the changes and should look at disbursing loans within five minutes of an application being made through the use of the digital technologies and richer databases. He also pointed out that paperless loan applications also help reduce the bank's ongoing NPA issues. He added that there are 29 crore bank accounts opened under the Prine Minuster’s Jan Dhan Yoajana till August.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10085.45, up by 6.15 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 10071.60 and 10126.50. There were 27 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 3.38%, Sun Pharma up by 2.53%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.86%, Cipla up by 1.65% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.36%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 4.22%, BPCL down by 1.69%, GAIL India down by 1.24%, Eicher Motors down by 1.01% and Zee Entertainment down by 0.98% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 125.5 points or 0.45% to 27,768.58, Nikkei 225 shed 58.38 points or 0.29% to 19,807.44, Shanghai Composite was down by 13.8 points or 0.41% to 3,370.35, Jakarta Composite dipped 2.77 points or 0.05% to 5,842.97 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dropped 1.24 points or 0.07% to 1,784.83.

On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 17.48 points or 0.74% to 2,377.66 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 20.69 points or 0.2% to 10,553.57.