Sensex, Nifty continue to trade with traction

The key benchmarks continued to trade with traction in late afternoon session, with Sensex gaining more than 150 points amid firm Asian cues. Traders were upbeat after the Centre released Rs 8,698 crore to states to compensate them for revenue loss following GST implementation. Some support also came with the report that foreign investors have pumped in close to $3 billion in the Indian capital markets so far this month due to high nominal and real yields and stable macroeconomic conditions.  Besides, the private report stating that the Reserve Bank is likely to cut rates at its December 6 policy review meet as retail inflation remains muted and the October number is expected to be about 3.3 percent, too helped to maintain the gains. Along with larger peers, the boarder markets also traded jubilantly with gains of more than a percent each amid buying witnessed in Consumer Durables, Telecom and Realty stocks. Meanwhile, the government is planning to launch an e-wallet for exporters under the Goods & Services Tax (GST) regime and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and National Securities Depository (NSDL) are looking to operate it.

On the global front, European markets were trading mixed as investors monitored corporate earnings, while oil prices hovered near 2-year highs amid supply fears. Asian markets were trading mostly in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, Jet Airways (India) jumped higher after the company commenced its first flight from Bangalore to Amsterdam on October 28, 2017, adding on to its existing Mumbai - Amsterdam and Delhi - Amsterdam route. The new service was operated by the wide-body Airbus 330 aircraft. The bookings for this route were open from April 2017.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33323.34, up by 166.12 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 33206.93 and 33332.06. 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 1.20%, while Small cap index was up by 1.22%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 2.10%, Telecom up by 1.87%, Realty up by 1.68%, Industrials up by 1.34% and Oil & Gas up by 1.32%, while FMCG down by 0.21% and Metal down by 0.06% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Lupin up by 6.56%, ONGC up by 2.94%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.23%, Tata Motors up by 2.20% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 2.03%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.56%, Wipro down by 1.23%, Tata Steel down by 1.08%, Coal India down by 0.88% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, an international financial institution, World Bank (WB) in its latest ‘Private Participation in Infrastructure (PPI)’ report has said PPI investment commitments in India along with other two emerging market developing economies (EMDEs) -- Brazil and Turkey, have declined sharply in 2016. The report noted that though a recovery marked in private infra investments in the first half (H1) of 2017 with increase of 24% over H1 2016, India has lagged by being not part of it.

The report said that the reasons behind the decline in private investments in India are aggressive bidding by private players in power, highways etc, and liberal lending by banks without duly assessing projects which resulted in the twin balance sheet problem of over-leveraged corporates and banks with stressed assets. As per WB report, PPI investment in EMDEs in H1 2017 increased by 24 percent, from $29.5 billion in H1 2016 to $36.7 billion, which stood still lower than historical levels.

The report further said that the lower investment relative to the five-year average is largely driven by declining private investment in infrastructure in three key markets - India , Turkey and Brazil, which together accounted for a majority of investment during 2011-2015 with a 58% share. WB added that though they still continued to be heavyweights, the momentum slowed in 2016.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10375.75, up by 52.70 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 10344.30 and 10383.80. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Lupin up by 4.77%, ONGC up by 2.72%, Yes Bank up by 2.69%, Tata Motors up by 2.51% and BPCL up by 2.35%. On the flip side, HCL Tech. down by 1.98%, ITC down by 1.86%, Wipro down by 1.57%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.20% and Tata Steel down by 1.19% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite increased 0.91 points or 0.02% to 5,976.19, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.14 points or 0.12% to 1,748.27, Nikkei 225 increased 3.22 points or 0.01% to 22,011.67, KOSPI Index increased 5.3 points or 0.21% to 2,501.93 and Taiwan Weighted increased 47.76 points or 0.45% to 10,756.87. On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 102.66 points or 0.36% to 28,336.19 and Shanghai Composite decreased 26.48 points or 0.77% to 3,390.34.

European markets were trading mixed; France’s CAC increased 0.9 points or 0.02% to 5,495.03 and Germany’s DAX increased 10.3 points or 0.08% to 13,227.84. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 18.07 points or 0.24% to 7,486.96.