Firm trade persists; Small cap soars over 1%

Key Indian benchmarks continued their firm trade in late afternoon session and the Sensex was trading with gains of more than 150 points, while the Nifty was above 9,950 level. Continuous buying witnessed at Metal, Utilities and Basic Materials counters also supported the rally. Traders remained upbeat with Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that he is working together with the finance ministry and other departments to firm up policy initiatives along with fiscal incentives. However, the investors stayed cautious as Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting went underway. The Council is likely to give a major relief to exporters as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs). On the sectoral front, the banking shares were trading higher with taking support from the Moody’s latest report that the sale of stake by few Indian banks in their insurance arms is credit positive for these lenders as the proceeds received would strengthen their loss-absorbing buffers.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in green as global equity markets ride a bullish wave from Wall Street this week powered by stronger-than-expected economic data and the hope of significant tax reform from US lawmakers. Asian markets were also trading in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, Shoppers Stop surged on the bourses after the company received an approval for sale of 77,158,778 equity shares of Rs 10 each, constituting 51.09% of the paid up share capital of Hypercity Retail (India); (Hypercity / subsidiary company) to Future Retail.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31757.18, up by 165.15 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 31632.81 and 31814.36. There were 24 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.76%, while Small cap index was up by 1.01%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.67%, Oil & Gas up by 1.63%, PSU up by 1.57%, Utilities up by 1.55% and Basic Materials up by 1.51%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 4.30%, NTPC up by 2.99%, Sun Pharma up by 2.70%, SBI up by 1.87% and ONGC up by 1.73%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.24%, HDFC down by 0.97%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.41%, ICICI Bank down by 0.29% and Power Grid Corporation down by 0.12% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid concerns over the slower Gross domestic product (GDP) growth of the country, multilater agency World Bank has raised some hopes and its President Jim Yong has said that the recent slowdown in India's economic growth is an aberration triggered by temporary disruptions in preparation for the Goods and Service Tax (GST), hoping that this temporary blip will get sorted in the near future.

The World Bank President also praised the government’s initiatives like GST and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, and said that all of those efforts will yield good results. He said that the GDP growth will stabilise during the year and GST is going to have a positive impact on the Indian economy. Jim Yong though expressed some concerns over the challenges which the country is facing now in the fields like educational and health.

He praised the 'commitment' of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sanitation issues, and said 'Swachh Bharat' is one of the most effective programmes anywhere and raised optimism about the country, saying India has room to improve like most other countries. India's GDP grew 5.7 per cent on a year-on-year basis during the April-June period (Q1). 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9954.45, up by 65.75 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 9906.60 and 9967.95. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 4.11%, GAIL India up by 4.00%, Hindalco up by 3.26%, NTPC up by 3.13% and Sun Pharma up by 2.78%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 1.22%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.21%, HDFC down by 1.03%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.38% and ICICI Bank down by 0.31% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.76 points or 0.1% to 1,760.85, Taiwan Weighted increased 14.54 points or 0.14% to 10,532.81, Nikkei 225 increased 62.15 points or 0.3% to 20,690.71 and Hang Seng increased 78.86 points or 0.28% to 28,458.04. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 0.23 points or 0% to 5,901.68.

European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 7.59 points or 0.1% to 7,515.58 and Germany’s DAX increased 10.95 points or 0.08% to 12,979.00. On the flip side, France’s CAC decreased 9.28 points or 0.17% to 5,369.93.