Markets maintain momentum; Sensex rallies over 200 points

Key Indian indices maintained their gaining momentum in late morning session, with Sensex rallying over 200 points on the back of firm Asian cues. Traders remained optimistic with the private report stating that India is likely to overtake Japan and Germany to become the third largest economy in the next 10 years but needs to be consistent in reforms and focus more on the social sector. Adding some support, India's external debt came down by $ 13.1 billion or 2.7 percent to $ 471.9 billion at the end of March this year on annual basis mainly due to decrease in NRI deposits and commercial borrowings. Besides, shares of some steel companies were trading higher with Union Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh’s statement that India will achieve more than 50 per cent of its 300 million tonne steel production target by 2018-19. Meanwhile, India’s forex reserves have now surpassed $400 billion. As per the most recent RBI data, India's forex reserves stood at $ 400.726 billion in the week ended September 8 on account of rise in foreign currency assets.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green as investors looked ahead to a US Federal Reserve policy meeting and President Donald Trump’s speech at the United Nations. Back home, in scrip specific development, Talwalkars Better Value Fitness (TBVF) was trading higher after the company incorporated a Wholly Owned Subsidiary (WOS) Company in Singapore, ‘Talwalkars Better Value Fitness (Singapore)’, which is registered with the Registrar of Companies and Business Names, Singapore.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32476.07, up by 203.46 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 32361.25 and 32508.06. There were 25 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.88%, while Small cap index was up by 1.00%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.77%, Capital Goods up by 1.69%, Auto up by 1.39%, Industrials up by 1.35% and Utilities up by 1.12%, while Healthcare down by 0.24% and Oil & Gas down by 0.03% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 3.37%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.86%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.31%, Tata Motors up by 1.94% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.34%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 1.48%, Tata Steel down by 0.77%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.69%, ONGC down by 0.54% and SBI down by 0.09% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, rating agency ICRA in its latest report has stated that India's current account deficit (CAD), which soared to a four-year high in first quarter of the current fiscal, is likely to touch $30-32 billion, or 1.2-1.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by March-end 2018. It noted that CAD, difference between the value of all imports and the value of all exports, increased sharply to $14.3 billion (2.4% of GDP) in April-June quarter of FY18, from $0.4 billion, (0.1% of GDP) a year ago, primarily on account of a higher trade deficit.

The rating agency further pointed out that the sharp rise in the CAD in Q1 FY18 comparative to Q1 FY17 did not came as a surprise, with the spike in gold imports prior to the GST rollout responsible for half of this uptick. It also added that the lagged impact of the rupee appreciation was partly responsible for a faster rise in non-oil non-gold imports relative to exports, bloating the goods trade deficit. In the first quarter, ICRA noted that net services receipts increased by 15.7 percent mainly on the back of a rise in net earnings from travel, construction and other business services. Also, it said that the net foreign direct investment at $7.2 billion during the quarter almost doubled from the same period last year.

The report further mentioned that the healthy 15 percent increase in the services trade surplus, modest increase in secondary income inflows and decline in primary income outflows shielded the current account deficit from an even larger deterioration. It also noted that despite a wider current account gap, the balance of payments surplus was $11.4 billion in April-June, compared with $6.97 billion a year ago, helped by strong dollar inflows that boosted the rupee 0.43 percent during the quarter.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10157.50, up by 72.10 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 10131.30 and 10167.15. There were 41 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 3.38%, Bharti Infratel up by 3.37%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 3.04%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.28% and Indusind Bank up by 2.12%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 1.77%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.80%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 0.76%, Tata Steel down by 0.72% and ONGC down by 0.60% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite increased 7.5 points or 0.22% to 3,361.12, KOSPI Index increased 27.97 points or 1.17% to 2,414.04, Taiwan Weighted increased 51.16 points or 0.48% to 10,631.57 and Hang Seng increased 316.48 points or 1.14% to 28,124.07. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 4.3 points or 0.07% to 5,868.09 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 0.65 points or 0.04% to 1,785.68.