Sensex, Nifty add gains; Realty leads

Key Indian benchmarks added some gains in late afternoon session, tracking higher opening in European markets, with Realty stocks leading the way. Investors were optimistic as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, three months after the rollout of the new indirect tax regime has made sweeping changes on filing and payment of taxes, by easing rules for exporters and cutting tax rates on more than two dozen items. Adding some optimism, Urjit Patel said that economic growth is expected to pick up in third and fourth quarters to 7% plus. Some support also came with Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s statement that the slowdown in the economic growth in Q1 of 2017-18 (April-June) is transitory and that will definitely pick-up pace in the next quarter as the macro fundamentals are strong. Traders were seen pilling up position in Realty, Consumer Durables and FMCG sector, while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, Utilities and Power sector stocks. Meanwhile, coal imports rose by 9.5% to 18.33 MT in September, after having registered year-on-year decline for five months in a row, as some power plants faced fuel shortages.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green with Germany's DAX index hitting a new all-time high on positive data from the euro zone's largest economy. Asian markets were trading mixed. Back home, in scrip specific development, Viceroy Hotels gained after reducing the debt of International Asset Reconstruction Company (IARC) through sale of property. IARC has sold the property belonging to Viceroy Hotels, located at 36-199, Himayath Nagar, Hyderabad to an extent of 1400 square yards to Secunderabad Hotels. The disposal of the property has reduced the debt of IARC to the tune of Rs 30.82 crore.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31892.31, up by 78.09 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 31781.75 and 31935.63. There were 20 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.11%, while Small cap index was up by 0.84%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.66%, Consumer Durables up by 1.14%, FMCG up by 0.74%, Consumer Disc up by 0.51% and IT up by 0.49%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.93%, Utilities down by 0.71%, Power down by 0.63%, Telecom down by 0.55% and PSU down by 0.49% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.70%, Coal India up by 1.59%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.59%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.26% and Tata Steel up by 1.01%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.83%, ONGC down by 1.55%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.85%, NTPC down by 0.43% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.32% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid worries over an economic growth slowdown, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel has raised hopes of upturn in economic growth of the country in the near future. RBI Governor expects the country’s growth to pick up in last two quarters of the current financial year (FY18) to exceed 7 percent, based on high frequency real economy indicators suggesting that growth will pick up in the third and fourth quarters.

Urjit Patel said that the economy is recovering, after gross domestic product (GDP) growth slipped to its three-year low of 5.7 percent in the April-June quarter, but reiterated that for them the country’s growth is important but not at cost of inflation, adding that the country need to be a careful and should aim at achieving the inflation target without losing sight of supporting economic growth.

The statement of the RBI governor came in backdrop of some calls for lower interest rates, as RBI left rates unchanged at a review by the monetary policy committee (MPC). RBI Governor pointed that in the medium term, the RBI aims for annual inflation of 4 percent with the flexbility of plus/minus 2 percent on either side to make room for food price volatility and so in view of this the monetary policy committee (MPC) will strive to achieve its 4 percent inflation target on a ‘durable basis’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9995.25, up by 15.55 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 9959.45 and 10015.75. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.63%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.44%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.36%, Coal India up by 1.36% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.03%. On the flip side, Aurobindo Pharma down by 2.33%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.93%, BPCL down by 1.88%, ONGC down by 1.73% and GAIL India down by 1.62% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Jakarta Composite increased 8.22 points or 0.14% to 5,913.60 and Shanghai Composite increased 25.44 points or 0.76% to 3,374.38. On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 131.45 points or 0.46% to 28,326.59 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 0.45 points or 0.03% to 1,763.55.

European markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC increased 0.24 points to 5,360.14 and Germany’s DAX increased 19.29 points or 0.15% to 12,975.23. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 5.87 points or 0.08% to 7,517.00.