Sensex, Nifty add gains in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks added some gains in late afternoon session on the back of higher buying witnessed in Healthcare, Power and Industrials, despite weak opening in European markets. Traders took some support with India’s first bullet train project which kick-started on Thursday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, may turn into a catalyst to give a fillip to struggling economies of Asia and Africa. Some encouragement also came with private report stating that India’s GDP growth is expected to be around 7.1% 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 muted as after the sharp rise seen in CPI based inflation, the latest data released by the government has shown that the WPI inflation rate too registered significant increase in August month. Surge in prices of foods articles, vegetable and  fuel products mainly pulled the country’s WPI higher to 3.24% in August against 1.09% increase in the same month a year ago and 1.88% recorded in the previous month.

On the sectoral front, banking shares got some relief with Crisil’s latest report that stressed assets in the banking system are not expected to rise significantly from current levels of Rs 11.5 lakh crore, or 14 percent of total advances. It further said that's because of gradual recovery in the credit quality of corporates driven by higher commodity prices, lower interest rates, improved capital structures, and efficiency gains.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red as trader’s tracked geopolitical developments and look forward to the Bank of England’s latest policy decision. Asian markets were also trading in red. Back home, in scrip specific development, Shriram Transport Finance Company was trading higher after the company acquired 17% of total paid-up capital of a start-up Company Freight Commerce Solutions (FCSPL). The cost of acquisition or the price at which shares are acquired is Rs 6,99,86,574.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32272.21, up by 85.80 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 32186.84 and 32328.61. 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 0.42%, while Small cap index was up by 0.69%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.92%, Power up by 0.91%, Industrials up by 0.75%, Bankex up by 0.57% and Auto up by 0.29%, while Metal down by 0.86%, Oil & Gas down by 0.29%, Realty down by 0.23%, Energy down by 0.15% and Basic Materials down by 0.13% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 4.27%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 3.28%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 3.04%, Tata Motors up by 2.68% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 2.02%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 4.37%, ONGC down by 1.30%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.80%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.77% and Tata Steel down by 0.63% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has imposed an anti-dumping duty of up to $ 60.35 per tonne on imports of a chemical used in fertiliser industry from four countries -- Russia, Indonesia, Georgia and Iran. The move is aimed at protecting domestic players against cheap imports of ‘ammonium nitrate’ from these countries. This anti-dumping duty is in the range of $11.42 - $60.35 per tonne of the chemical and will remain in place for five years.

Deepak Fertilizers and Petrochemicals Corporation and Smartchem Technologies had jointly filed an application before the Directorate General of Antidumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) for initiating the anti-dumping probe. The finance ministry imposed the duty after the DGAD in its finding concluded that the chemical has been exported to India below its normal value, resulting in dumping. After considering the findings of DGAD, the government, hereby imposes the antidumping duty. DGAD has recommended imposition of the duty on the imports.

Countries impose anti-dumping duties to guard domestic industry from surge in below-cost imports. As a counter-measure, they impose the duty. These duties are in compliance with the rules of global trade body World Trade Organisation (WTO). The duties also ensure fair trade by providing a level- playing field to the domestic industry. They are not a measure to restrict imports or cause an unjustified increase in the cost of products.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10096.75, up by 17.45 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 10070.35 and 10126.50. There were 25 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index, while 2 stocks remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 4.43%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 3.29%, Sun Pharma up by 3.21%, Tata Motors up by 2.72% and Bank of Baroda up by 1.95%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 4.31%, Vedanta down by 2.48%, GAIL India down by 1.43%, ONGC down by 1.24% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.11% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 116.88 points or 0.42% to 27,777.20, Nikkei 225 decreased 58.38 points or 0.29% to 19,807.44, Shanghai Composite decreased 12.72 points or 0.38% to 3,371.43 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 4.73 points or 0.26% to 1,781.34. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite increased 11.58 points or 0.2% to 5,857.32, KOSPI Index increased 17.48 points or 0.74% to 2,377.66 and Taiwan Weighted increased 20.69 points or 0.2% to 10,553.57.

All European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 34.38 points or 0.27% to 12,519.19, France’s CAC decreased 7.38 points or 0.14% to 5,210.21 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 3.52 points or 0.05% to 7,376.18.