Sensex, Nifty continue to trade in green

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in late morning session despite weak Asian markets. Traders remained optimistic with Niti Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar’s statement that the economic downturn which began in the last two years of the UPA II regime has bottomed out and growth will improve in the next two quarters. Investors also took support with private report highlighting that India is expected to be a $6 trillion economy -- the third largest in the world -- in the next 10 years, majorly helped by digitization. According to global brokerage firm, India's digitisation drive would provide a boost of 50-75 basis points to GDP growth in the coming decade. However, gains remained capped with the credit rating agency India Ratings’ report that India’s GDP growth estimate for the ongoing financial year 2017-18 is likely to come down to 6.7 per cent from 7.4 per cent earlier, as the combined effect of demonetisation and introduction of goods and services tax (GST) is proving to be more disruptive for the economy than was expected earlier. On the sectoral front, telecom shares failed to get relief from Union Minister for Communications Manoj Sinha’s statement that Indian telecom industry is expected to cross $38 billion revenue mark by the end of 2017, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2 percent during the period 2014 to 2017.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red despite US equities ending higher and the greenback rose following the unveiling of a long-awaited tax reform plan stateside. Back home, in scrip specific development, State Bank of India (SBI) gained after the bank received final approval for buyback of 1,911,974 equity shares held by the bank in SBI DFHI at Rs 520 per share aggregating Rs 99,42,26,480.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31233.89, up by 74.08 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 31081.83 and 31283.92. There were 19 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.79%, while Small cap index was up by 0.71%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.00%, Healthcare up by 0.94%, Basic Materials up by 0.80%, Utilities up by 0.75% and FMCG up by 0.73%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.37%, Consumer Durables down by 0.22%, Energy down by 0.22%, Telecom down by 0.22% and TECK down by 0.02% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 4.13%, Coal India up by 1.55%, ITC up by 1.39%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.30% and Sun Pharma up by 1.26%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 2.37%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.09%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.70%, ICICI Bank down by 0.67% and Wipro down by 0.64% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in view of the exponential growth of smartphones and mobile data usage, Union Minister for Communications Manoj Sinha has said that Indian telecom industry is expected to cross $38 billion revenue mark by the end of 2017, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2 percent during the period 2014 to 2017. He also expects the telecom market to generate revenue of Rs 6.6 trillion by 2020 with the National Telecom Policy 2018.

The minister stated that in the past four years, investment into the sector has increased by approximately 220 percent. He noted that operators have rolled out more than 0.2 million mobile tower sites in the last 15 months with a new site coming up every three minutes. He also highlighted that the country is currently the second largest telecommunication market in the world with an over 1.2 billion subscriber base and around 450 million internet users.

Sinha further said that the industry is expected to generate four million direct and indirect employment during the period, adding that the government has put the spotlight formally on technology in the past few years. He also pointed out that the government has already started stakeholders’ consultations on the new telecom policy and noted that the government is taking a number of steps for further augmentation of the ease of doing business.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9746.55, up by 10.80 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 9687.55 and 9758.80. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 4.33%, Ambuja Cement up by 1.75%, Coal India up by 1.69%, ITC up by 1.35% and Sun Pharma up by 1.34%. On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 2.71%, Asian Paints down by 2.52%, Eicher Motors down by 1.56%, BPCL down by 1.36% and Aurobindo Pharma down by 1.35% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 52.17 points or 0.19% to 27,590.26, Taiwan Weighted decreased 30.23 points or 0.29% to 10,296.45, Shanghai Composite decreased 6.31 points or 0.19% to 3,338.96, Jakarta Composite decreased 2.92 points or 0.05% to 5,860.10 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.24 points or 0.07% to 1,763.00. On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 2.57 points or 0.11% to 2,375.14 and Nikkei 225 increased 103.7 points or 0.51% to 20,370.75.