Sensex, Nifty continue firm trade in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks continued firm trade in late morning session, gaining more than 0.30 percent each, on sustained buying by domestic institutional investors. Sentiments remained upbeat with RBI Governor Urjit Patel’s statement that the economy is recovering, after growth slowed to a three-year low of 5.7 percent in the April-June quarter. He added that the GDP growth will pick up in the third and fourth quarters (of the current fiscal year) to above 7 per cent. Buying in Energy, Utilities and IT stocks too supported the markets. Investors took note of the data released by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which indicates pessimism reigns among consumers and there is less hope for improvement in general economic conditions compared to last year. On the sectoral front, shares of some pharma companies were trading higher, despite the report stating that India’s pharmaceutical exports has registered a negative growth of 4 percent during the first five months of the financial year 2017-18, mainly due to increased regulatory issues along with pricing pressure in global markets.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as investors steered clear of riskier assets ahead of the release of the Federal Reserve's September meeting minutes tomorrow, awaiting clues on the pace of future US rate increases. Back home, in scrip specific development, Coal India (CIL) traded higher after the company reported 20.6 percent rise in supply of coal to power utilities to 35.1 million tonnes (MT) in September. The coal supply to power plants was at 29 MT in the same month of 2016.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31950.57, up by 103.68 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 31898.20 and 31994.77. 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 0.71%, while Small cap index was up by 0.89%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.03%, Utilities up by 0.81%, IT up by 0.75%, Healthcare up by 0.65% and Power up by 0.61%, while Realty down by 0.31%, Metal down by 0.19% and FMCG down by 0.02% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Lupin up by 2.34%, Reliance Industries up by 1.66%, Infosys up by 1.39%, Power Grid Corporation up by 0.97% and Coal India up by 0.87%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.24%, Tata Steel down by 0.93%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.64%, Tata Motors down by 0.56% and ICICI Bank down by 0.46% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in an interaction with oil and gas CEOs and experts from across the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has admitted that the status of the country’s energy sector was extremely uneven and also stressed that there is need for further energy reforms in many areas in the sector. Modi welcomed the suggestion made for a comprehensive energy policy and also welcomed all possibilities for innovation and research in the oil and gas sector.

The Prime Minister indicated that there is need to develop energy infrastructure and access to energy in eastern India. He also flagged the potential of bio-mass energy and also invited participation and joint ventures in coal gasification. As India moves towards a cleaner and more fuel-efficient economy, he also wants its benefits to expand horizontally to all sections of the society, and in particular to the poorest.

During the meeting, issues such as the need for a unified energy policy, contract frameworks and arrangements, requirement of seismic data sets, encouragement for biofuels, improving gas supply, setting up of a gas hub, and regulatory issues came up for discussion. Various participants appreciated the progress and reforms made in India in the last three years. They have also appreciated the pace and drive with which the prime minister has brought about reform in the energy sector. Besides, some participants strongly recommended the inclusion of gas and electricity under the ambit of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to make these competitive.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10019.85, up by 31.10 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 10002.55 and 10034.00. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Lupin up by 2.27%, Reliance Industries up by 1.78%, UPL up by 1.53%, Infosys up by 1.37% and Indusind Bank up by 1.33%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 0.91%, Vedanta down by 0.83%, Zee Entertainment down by 0.76%, Tata Motors down by 0.67% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; KOSPI Index increased 38.68 points or 1.62% to 2,433.15, Hang Seng increased 105.81 points or 0.37% to 28,432.40 and Nikkei 225 increased 122.46 points or 0.59% to 20,813.17.

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 3.66 points or 0.21% to 1,760.37, Jakarta Composite decreased 1.66 points or 0.03% to 5,913.27 and Shanghai Composite decreased 0.81 points or 0.02% to 3,373.57.