Benchmarks continue to trade with modest gains

Indian equity benchmarks continued their firm trade in morning session on account of buying in frontline counters. The rupee opened lower against the US dollar on account of buying of American currency by banks and importers. Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth Rs 293.88 crore on October 18 with gross purchases and gross sales stood at Rs 4,464.13 crore and Rs 4,758.01 crore, respectively. Traders took support on foreign brokerage report that the Indian economy is expected to see a rebound in the July-September quarter of this year with a GVA growth rate of 6.3 per cent. The brokerage proprietary indices suggest that growth bottomed out in the second quarter and a recovery is underway in the third quarter, largely because consumption and investment indicators have improved in the third quarter. Sentiments remained up-beat on Hasmukh Adhia’s statement that policymakers are considering steps to ease the compliance burden related to the goods and services tax (GST) on small businesses and to make product classification for taxation less complicated. Some support also came with report that foreign investors have poured a whopping $2 billion into the Indian debt markets so far this month due to lower currency volatility coupled with positive real interest rates. Investors took note of Prime Minister Narendra Modi statement that the process of taking important decisions regarding the economic reforms will continue. He added that after all reforms and hardcore decisions, the economy of the country is on track and is going in the right direction.

Traders were seen piling up position in Realty, Telecom and Energy stock, while selling was witnessed in Healthcare and Auto sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Bhushan Steel is locked at upper circuit limit on report that ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel company, joined the bidding for stressed steel assets in the country by expressing interest to acquire Bhushan Steel. Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) made a tepid debut on the exchange as the scrip got listed at a discount to its issue price of Rs 1,650. The issue, which was sold between October 9 and October 11, had been subscribed 2.28 times. The company, which sold the shares in the price range between Rs 1,645 and Rs 1,650 had cut anchor investor allocation to 7,89,120 shares from 18,19,501 announced earlier.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, with Tokyo up sharply as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s coalition returned to power with a super majority, setting the benchmark index up for its 15th straight daily gain. China’s labor ministry said that the country’s unemployment rate has hit its lowest point in multiple years at 3.95 percent by the end of September, but employment still face challenges as the economy pushes ahead with structural reforms. Back home, the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty were trading above the psychological 32,400 and 10,100 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1116:1146, while 120 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32455.06, up by 65.10 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 32393.22 and 32614.89. There were 17 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.41%, while Small cap index was up by 0.04%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.30%, Telecom up by 1.21%, Energy up by 0.98%, TECK up by 0.96% and IT up by 0.87%, while Healthcare down by 0.11% and Auto down by 0.08% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 2.72%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.57%, Coal India up by 1.36%, ICICI Bank up by 1.30% and Reliance Industries up by 1.27%.

On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 1.81%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.33%, HDFC down by 1.32%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.27% and Asian Paints down by 1.20% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Steel’s Joint Plant Committee (JPC) in its latest report has stated that domestic crude steel production increased by 6.8 percent to 8.39 million tonnes (MT) in September 2017, as compared to 7.86 MT in the September 2016. During April-September 2017, crude steel production was 49.764 MT, with a growth of 4.5 percent over 47.608 MT produced in the corresponding period of the previous year.

As per the report, overall production of total finished steel for sale was at 8.814 MT, up by 5.6 percent over September 2016 and the production was down 0.2 percent compared to August 2017. During April-September 2017, production of total finished steel for sale was at 52.079 MT, a growth of 5.1 percent over same period of last year.

In April-September, hot metal output stood at 32.341 MT, registering a growth of 0.8 percent over the same period last year and in September 2017, overall hot metal production was at 5.532 MT down by 0.5 percent over August2017 but was up by 3.9 percent over September last year. In April-September, pig iron production for sale was at 4.568 MT, a fall of 3.1 percent over the same period last year and in September 2017 overall production for sale of pig iron stood at 0.776 MT, up by 3.1 percent over August 2017 and was at same level as in September 2016.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10173.25, up by 26.70 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 10156.35 and 10224.15. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 2.78%, Ambuja Cement up by 2.75%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.25%, HCL Tech up by 2.08% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.63%.

On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 2.81%, Axis Bank down by 1.86%, Eicher Motors down by 1.45%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.33% and HDFC down by 1.21% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite increased 0.11 points or 0% to 3,378.75, KOSPI Index increased 1.01 points or 0.04% to 2,490.55, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.86 points or 0.16% to 1,743.51, Jakarta Composite increased 23.12 points or 0.39% to 5,952.67, Taiwan Weighted increased 23.48 points or 0.22% to 10,752.36 and Nikkei 225 increased 236.6 points or 1.1% to 21,694.24.

On the other hand, Hang Seng decreased 209.35 points or 0.73% to 28,277.89.