Bourses manage to keep their head above water

Key Indian indices managed to keep their head above water in late afternoon session, with Nifty hovering around its crucial support level of 10,150, aided by buying in Realty, Oil & Gas and Auto stocks. Besides, the broader markets continued to perform better than their larger peers. Sentiments were positive with taking support from Moody’s latest report that India is likely see increased foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows on the back of reforms such as introduction of the goods and services tax and the bankruptcy code.  Some support also came with Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari’s statement that the government has managed to save bank loans worth Rs 300,000 crore to the road sector from turning into non-performing assets (NPAs). However, upside remained capped as investors remained on sidelines ahead of meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and other top officials to take stock of the situation and the discussion for remedial measures to bolster growth.

On the global front, European markets were trading mixed as investors paused for breath ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting. Asian markets were trading in red. Back home, scrip specific development, Nila Infrastructures was trading in green after the company received a work order pertaining to EPC contract worth Rs 51.11 crore from Adani Group’s Shantigram Estate Management for construction of ‘Inspire Business Park’ Project (Basement and Towers CH1 to CH9) at Shantigram, Ahmedabad. The project envisages overall construction covering about 400,000 square feet built-up area and has to be completed by October 15, 2018.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32430.22, up by 6.46 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 32358.63 and 32524.11. 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 0.16%, while Small cap index was up by 0.49%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.01%, Oil & Gas up by 0.94%, Auto up by 0.76%, Utilities up by 0.70% and FMCG up by 0.59%, while Metal down by 0.74%, Capital Goods down by 0.36%, Consumer Durables down by 0.13%, Energy down by 0.07% and IT down by 0.05% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 4.88%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 3.35%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.88%, ITC up by 0.82% and NTPC up by 0.51%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.49%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.01%, Axis Bank down by 0.84%, SBI down by 0.83% and HDFC down by 0.78% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, pointing to the various reform measures, like introduction of a goods and services tax (GST) and the bankruptcy code, global credit rating agency, Moody's Investors Service in its latest report has said these reforms taken by the government may attract higher levels of foreign direct investment (FDI) in India.

In its report titled ‘Asia's structural reforms could get effectiveness boost from stronger global demand’, the rating agency also praised government’s initiative of raising FDI cap in a number of sectors along with steps taken towards the ease of doing business and noted that FDI has already increased substantially, albeit from a low base.

Along with hopes of rise in India’s FDI, Moody's Investors Service is also expecting increment in Indonesia’s FDI on the back of their government’s reforms over the past few years. The report further added that a robust global environment is likely to amplify the positive impact of the reforms on these two countries’ attractiveness to foreign investors.

Besides, the report found the global demand has been strengthening since the end of last year which has buoyed Asia Pacific’s trade-reliant economies. However, it said that faster export growth has yet to feed into a sustainable acceleration in output growth.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10154.35, up by 1.25 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 10129.95 and 10178.95. There were 26 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 4.99%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 3.30%, GAIL India up by 2.74%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.01% and Bharti Infratel up by 2.00%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.48%, Hindalco down by 1.50%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 1.29%, Vedanta down by 1.12% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.03% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 108.36 points or 0.38% to 28,051.41, Taiwan Weighted decreased 55.43 points or 0.52% to 10,576.14, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 7.76 points or 0.44% to 1,775.90, Shanghai Composite decreased 6.01 points or 0.18% to 3,356.84 and KOSPI Index decreased 2.16 points or 0.09% to 2,416.05. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite increased 11.43 points or 0.19% to 5,896.04 and Nikkei 225 increased 389.88 points or 1.96% to 20,299.38.

European markets were trading mixed; France’s CAC increased 1.87 points or 0.04% to 5,231.19. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 18.17 points or 0.25% to 7,271.45, while Germany’s DAX decreased 12.68 points or 0.1% to 12,546.71.