Benchmarks trade in fine fettle in early deals; Nifty reclaims 10K mark

Indian equity benchmarks have made an optimistic start and are trading in fine fettle in early deals, with frontline gauges recapturing their crucial 31,900 (Sensex) and 10,000 (Nifty) levels. Continuous buying by domestic financial institutions and widening of exposure by retail investors ahead of Q2 earnings season aiding sentiments. However, traders remained little cautious with RBI Governor Urjit Patel’s statement that the economy was recovering, after growth slowed to a three-year low of 5.7 percent in the April-June quarter. But he said that fostering monetary conditions conducive to economic growth were a constant consideration for Indian policymakers, but would not take priority over achieving the central bank’s inflation target.

On the global front, Asian markets were exhibiting mixed trend at this point of time with positive bias, as investors assessed political developments in Washington before the start of earnings season and the release of minutes from the most recent Federal Reserve meeting. The US markets extending their sluggishness made a modestly lower closing in the last session.

Back home, energy sector stocks remained buzzing, as the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the status of the energy sector in India was highly uneven and the scope for reform in many areas still exists. In an interaction here with oil and gas CEOs and experts from across the world, he welcomed the suggestion made for a comprehensive energy policy.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31939.16, up by 92.27 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 31899.58 and 31957.61. There were 24 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.56%, while Small cap index was up by 0.62%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.97%, IT up by 0.95%, TECK up by 0.80%, Capital Goods up by 0.64% and Industrials was up by 0.51%, while Realty was down by 0.06% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Lupin up by 2.51%, Infosys up by 1.54%, Coal India up by 1.19%, Cipla up by 1.10% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.87%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 0.54%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.48%, ITC down by 0.35%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.19% and Tata Motors down by 0.13% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to provide better prices to domestic oilseed farmers, Union minister Nitin Gadkari has said that the government will carry out a study to find ways to curb the present large-scale import of cheap edible oils. He added that at present, import is about 70% of the edible oil consumed in the country and the import of cheap edible oils has been increasing continuously. Due to this, farmers are not getting the right price for oilseeds and the domestic processing industry is also suffering.

Gadkari also said that the policy of the government is that consumers should get edible oils at the right price, while interests of oilseed-producing farmers should also be protected. Therefore, the government will carry out a study on how much the import duty on edible oils should be increased so that farmers get a price higher than the minimum support price (MSP).

Union minister further noted that farmers were forced to sell their soybean crop below the MSP due to declining prices in the last Kharif season, thus, most soybean-growing farmers sowed pulses such as tur (arhar), moong and urad in the current Kharif hoping for better prices. In order to increase per-hectare soybean production, he has said that new varieties of seeds should be developed and special research should be conducted. He also said that the soybean processing industry should find ways to make nutritional food items from soy 'khali' (byproduct of oil-making process) which is full of protein and added that such food can be especially useful in tribal areas where malnutrition is rampant.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10015.25, up by 26.50 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 10004.55 and 10023.00. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Lupin up by 2.47%, Infosys up by 1.55%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 1.35%, Bharti Infratel up by 1.34% and HCL Tech. up by 1.33%. On the flip side, HPCL down by 1.03%, BPCL down by 0.72%, Ambuja Cement down by 0.68%, HDFC down by 0.55% and Vedanta down by 0.43% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng gained 26.96 points or 0.1% to 28,353.55, KOSPI Index surged 43.29 points or 1.81% to 2,437.76 and Nikkei 225 was up by 82.57 points or 0.4% to 20,773.28.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite decreased 11.26 points or 0.33% to 3,363.12, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI shed 3.9 points or 0.22% to 1,760.13 and Jakarta Composite was down by 3.13 points or 0.05% to 5,911.80.