Key indices trade with small gains in noon session

In the range-bound session, Indian equity indices were trading with small gains in early afternoon trade, as buying was witnessed in Healthcare, FMCG and Auto counters amid firm trend in Asian markets. Sentiments got some support 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.  However, further gains were restricted as some concerns came 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. Meanwhile, the broader markets gained strength with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices increasing by over half a percent. In the currency front, rupee dropped sharply by 26 to 65.08 per dollar in early trade amid gains in the US currency in global markets. In scrip specific development, Cipla was up by around a percent with its arm receiving final approval for its Abbreviated New Drug Application for Sevelamer Carbonate Tablets, 800 mg, from the USFDA.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, on the back of a stronger US dollar and investor optimism over President Donald Trump's long anticipated tax cuts. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33260.89, up by 113.76 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 33164.42 and 33270.62. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.57%, while Small cap index was up by 0.56%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.96%, FMCG up by 1.21%, Auto up by 1.14%, Industrials up by 1.12% and Consumer Disc up by 0.60%, while Telecom down by 3.51%, Energy down by 1.21%, Oil & Gas down by 0.83%, PSU down by 0.76% and TECK down by 0.42% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 4.50%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 3.93%, Sun Pharma up by 3.60%, ITC up by 2.55% and Tata Motors up by 2.34%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 3.34%, Wipro down by 2.07%, Reliance Industries down by 1.54%, SBI down by 1.47% and NTPC down by 1.44% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan has said that the government is making efforts to double India’s telecom infrastructure by the year 2020. She called upon all stakeholders in the country -- central and state governments, local authorities and the industry to facilitate laying out of optical fibre in the country for delivering high-speed broadband services. Besides, she said that whether it is smart cities, 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), they need optical fibre. Fibre first programme in this country is a national imperative and they must start working together.

Sundararajan has said that in the next 2-3 years, they expect to see many more initiatives to come because government itself is working on portfolio of Rs 1 lakh crore including phase 1 of Bharat Net. She noted that they have 83,000 village panchayats that have optic fibre network in place and the first phase of BharatNet project will be completed by December this year. Adding further, she pointed out that the government is pushing ahead with Bharat Net project rollout to connect the country's 2.5 lakh gram panchayats with optical fibre cable (OFC) for high-speed internet access by March 2019.

Telecom secretary further observed that there were a lot of anomalies in policies at various levels that would need to be aligned for the speedy rollout of the digital infrastructure. She cited a report saying every 1.3% increase in broadband penetration leads to 1% increase in GDP, but in the case of India, it has resulted in 3.3% increase in GDP. She also expressed her hoped that with Bharat Net, every village will have OFC capability. She added that for the last 10 years, people have been counting how many kilometres of roads had been built, but now it is important to count kilometres of OFC laid in the country for growth.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10353.50, up by 9.70 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 10325.85 and 10366.15. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 4.49%, Sun Pharma up by 3.66%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.51%, ITC up by 2.76% and Aurobindo Pharma up by 2.62%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 7.31%, Bharti Infratel down by 6.82%, HPCL down by 4.25%, Bharti Airtel down by 3.42% and Indian Oil Corporation down by 2.86% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Shanghai Composite increased 9.08 points or 0.27% to 3,416.64, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 10.35 points or 0.6% to 1,747.15, KOSPI Index added 16 points or 0.64% to 2,496.63, Hang Seng surged 199.24 points or 0.71% to 28,401.62 and Nikkei 225 was up by 268.67 points or 1.24% to 22,008.45.

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