Markets trade cautiously in late morning session

Key Indian benchmark indices traded cautiously in late morning session, despite firm Asian cues. Traders were concerned with Crisil’s latest report stating that the infrastructure spending in the country is required to be enhanced to Rs 50 lakh crore over the next five years and power, transport and urban sectors are expected to corner over three-fourths of such investments. Besides, selling in Telecom, Energy and Oil & Gas stocks weighted on the sentiments. However, some relief came with DIPP Secretary Ramesh Abhishek’s statement that India's ranking may improve significantly in the World Bank's ease of doing business report on the back of reforms initiated by the government. Meanwhile, the government extended the deadline by a month till November 30 for businesses to claim credit of transitional stock in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, with investors’ sentiments boosted by upbeat earnings results from US tech companies and optimism over US tax reform after House Republicans passed a budget resolution. In addition, the European Central Bank took its first cautious steps toward normalization by announcing that it will reduce the size of its asset purchases at the start of next year while extended them for nine months.

Back home, in scrip specific development, Coromandel International gained after the company reported a rise of 61.46% in its net profit at Rs 343.45 crore for the quarter under review as compared to net profit of Rs 212.71 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Total income of the company increased by 2.11% at Rs 3663.38 crore for Q2FY18 as compared Rs 3587.55 crore for the corresponding quarter previous year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33171.01, up by 23.88 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 33169.48 and 33270.62. There were 19 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.48%, while Small cap index was up by 0.53%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.68%, Industrials up by 0.97%, Auto up by 0.79%, FMCG up by 0.75% and Capital Goods up by 0.68%, while Telecom down by 3.97%, Energy down by 1.48%, Oil & Gas down by 1.04%, PSU down by 0.93% and Bankex down by 0.88% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 4.47%, Sun Pharma up by 3.59%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.97%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.26% and ONGC up by 2.09%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 4.18%, Wipro down by 2.19%, SBI down by 2.12%, Reliance Industries down by 1.96% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.68% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, two days after the Centre announced Rs 7 lakh crore investment plan to build more than 83,000 km of highways by 2022, credit ratings agency, Crisil Ratings in its latest report ‘Crisil Infrastructure Yearbook 2017’ has estimated that the infrastructure spending in India is required to be enhanced to Rs 50 lakh crore over the next five years to build the country’s infrastructure in a sustainable manner. This projection factors an average annual GDP growth of 7%, infrastructure investments equal to 5.5% of GDP, and a pick-up in private sector investments after fiscal 2019.

As per the rating agency’s infrastructure investability index, infrastructure investment in India is estimated to have risen to Rs 37 lakh crore, or 5.6% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), between FY13 and FY17, marking a 56% growth over the Rs 24 lakh crore spent in the preceding five years. The report predicted that power, transport and urban sectors are expected to corner over three-fourths of the overall infrastructure spending.  It also pointed out that in FY16 and FY17, higher central government spending partially offset a steep decline in private investments and deterioration in state government finances.

Crisil Ratings has said that weak project preparation, poorly structured contracts with inappropriate risk allocation, irrational bidding exuberance, and over-reliance on bank-led financing in the past have spawned the 'twin balance-sheet problem' of deeply indebted developers and gargantuan stressed assets in banking. It added that the takeover of distribution utility losses under the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana, or UDAY, and the recent agri- loan waivers have further strained state finances.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10326.35, down by 17.45 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 10325.85 and 10366.15. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 4.32%, Sun Pharma up by 3.75%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.22%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 2.62% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.27%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 8.48%, Bharti Infratel down by 6.55%, HPCL down by 4.66%, Bharti Airtel down by 4.39% and Indian Oil Corporation down by 3.49% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite increased 9.24 points or 0.27% to 3,416.81, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 10.47 points or 0.6% to 1,747.27, KOSPI Index increased 16.84 points or 0.68% to 2,497.47, Hang Seng increased 162.87 points or 0.58% to 28,365.25 and Nikkei 225 increased 257.75 points or 1.19% to 21,997.53.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted decreased 25.65 points or 0.24% to 10,709.11 and Jakarta Composite decreased 3.38 points or 0.06% to 5,992.47.