Bourses manage to keep head above water

Key Indian benchmarks managed to keep their heads above water in late morning session, with Nifty holding its crucial level of 10,200. Sentiments were optimistic with Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg’s statement that getting investment in the infrastructure sector and bankruptcy reforms are the two issues which are on the top of the government's agenda. Besides, the private report stating that India's foreign reserves, which touched a record $ 402.5 billion in September, are high enough to cushion the country against the external vulnerabilities, also helped the indices to trade in green territory. All the sectoral indices were trading in green except Metal. Meanwhile, government bonds attracted bids worth over $ 1 billion from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) in an auction of investment limits for such securities, much higher than the $ 763 million on offer.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green with modest gains, with the fresh record highs on Wall Street and firm commodity prices boosting investors’ sentiments. Comments by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, who reiterated her belief that additional gradual interest rate hikes are likely to be appropriate over the next few years, also supported stocks.

Back home, in scrip specific development, Steel Strips Wheels (SSWL) gained after the company bagged another big exports order for supply of Steel wheels for EU Caravan market. Order comprises of 150,000 Steel wheels to be shipped from SSWL's Chennai plant from next month onwards until period of 6 months.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32661.95, up by 28.31 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 32556.74 and 32675.21. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.38%, while Small cap index was up by 0.58%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.91%, Capital Goods up by 0.74%, PSU up by 0.73%, Oil & Gas up by 0.72% and Realty up by 0.66%, while Metal down by 0.17% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 1.26%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.24%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.12%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.06% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.80%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 0.64%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.54%, Tata Motors down by 0.54%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.45% and HDFC Bank down by 0.42% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has pitched for fiscal stimulus to boost the pace of Indian economic growth with a rider that additional expenditure should be used only for enhancing productivity and capital expenditure. He also said the industry has been demanding for a stimulus package from the government, while various experts have argued against fiscal stimulus as it would threaten the fiscal consolidation programme.

Talking on the anxieties expressed about the stimulus, he said “It depends on how you increase government spending. If you go and throw money away and give doles then, yes, of course it will give wrong signal.” He also said that “But if you are doing that by increasing productivity and capital investment by making, for example, more roads, more airports, more railways, nobody can argue that this will give a bad signal.” Adding further, he noted that “The only issue then is, can you absorb stimulus productively. Stimulus money should be used on increasing investment, increasing demand and improving physical and rural infrastructure.”

NITI Aayog Vice Chairman’s statement comes amid Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saying that he has not promised any fiscal stimulus, but would respond to the emerging situation. In a move to support higher government spending in the coming fiscal, the Ministry has pegged the fiscal deficit target for 2017-18 at 3.2 percent of the GDP, while for 2018-19 it has been set at 3 percent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10246.35, up by 15.50 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 10212.60 and 10251.85. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 2.39%, Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 2.11%, Yes Bank up by 2.03%, HPCL up by 1.39% and Asian Paints up by 1.20%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 1.36%, Tata Motors down by 0.95%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.79%, UPL down by 0.68% and Eicher Motors down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite increased 0.85 points or 0.03% to 3,379.32, KOSPI Index increased 6.66 points or 0.27% to 2,486.71, Hang Seng increased 34.53 points or 0.12% to 28,727.33 and Nikkei 225 increased 69.68 points or 0.33% to 21,325.24.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted decreased 51.06 points or 0.47% to 10,723.15, Jakarta Composite decreased 17.63 points or 0.3% to 5,932.07 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.05 points or 0.06% to 1,753.32.