Sensex, Nifty at day’s high

Indian equity benchmarks extended their gains in late afternoon session and were trading at intraday high levels, following firm global cues. Buying momentum prevailed in all the sectors, too added the gains. Traders were seen optimistic with reports that the government’s revenue collection during April-September, the first half of fiscal year 2017-18 shown a healthy growth. For the period, direct tax collections stood at Rs 3.86 lakh crore, registering a growth of 15.8 percent over the same period last year. Adding some optimism, the Department of Economic Affairs Secretary, Subhash Chandra Garg said that India’s GDP might return to 7% plus growth by next year as all indicators point to an ‘economic turnaround’. Some support also came with report that the newly constituted Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) wants the government to stick to its fiscal consolidation road map and has suggested that stimulus to the industry should not be at the cost of fiscal prudence. On the sectoral front, banking shares gained with taking support from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the Indian government is working on a plan to rebuild the capacity of the banking sector so that it could support growth. 

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in red, as investors awaiting data and monitoring speeches from central bankers at the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) annual meeting in Washington D.C.  Asian markets were trading in green. Back home, in scrip specific development,  Zydus Cadila traded higher after the company received the final approval from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) to market Desvenlafaxine Extended-Release Tablets, 50 mg and 100 mg. The drug is used to treat major depression and will be manufactured at the group’s formulations manufacturing facility at Moraiya, Ahmedabad.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32050.46, up by 216.47 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 31813.67 and 32050.85. There were 22 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.67%, while Small cap index was up by 0.84%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.41%, Telecom up by 1.40%, Realty up by 1.35%, FMCG up by 1.34% and Auto up by 0.92%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.39%, Reliance Industries up by 1.95%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.74%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.43% and Lupin up by 1.40%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.38%, Infosys down by 1.05%, Asian Paints down by 0.61%, Coal India down by 0.58% and ICICI Bank down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, a day after lowering India's growth forecast for 2017, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that a combination of weak banks and corporates leave India vulnerable to a tightening of the global financial conditions, it urged for more steps to ensure good capitalisation in public sector banks.

As per its recent study, Indian banking sector was vulnerable given that large segments have low profitability and have large problem loans. The international organization also found vulnerabilities in the country’s corporate financial positions, in view of their high leverage and risk profiles.

IMF though appreciated measures taken by the government to address the problems of the banking system, however said they are not sufficient to tackle the bad loans which rose to Rs 6.41 lakh crore at the end of March 2017 as against Rs 5.02 lakh crore a year ago.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10050.65, up by 65.85 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 9977.10 and 10052.85. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 5.31%, Bharti Infratel up by 5.29%, Sun Pharma up by 2.22%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 2.04% and Reliance Industries up by 2.03%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.39%, Infosys down by 1.15%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.94%, HPCL down by 0.82% and UPL down by 0.80% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 16.6 points or 0.68% to 2,474.76, Jakarta Composite increased 41.03 points or 0.7% to 5,923.81, Hang Seng increased 69.46 points or 0.24% to 28,459.03, Taiwan Weighted increased 70.25 points or 0.66% to 10,711.44 and Nikkei 225 increased 73.45 points or 0.35% to 20,954.72. On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 5.52 points or 0.31% to 1,751.69 and Shanghai Composite decreased 2.18 points or 0.06% to 3,386.10.

European markets were trading mostly in red; France’s CAC decreased 11.34 points or 0.21% to 5,351.07 and Germany’s DAX decreased 10.09 points or 0.08% to 12,960.59. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 4.41 points or 0.06% to 7,538.22.