Sensex, Nifty continue to trade firm; Telecom stocks ring loud

Key Indian benchmarks continued to trade firm in late morning session, tracking positive trend seen in Asian markets along with positive services PMI data. India's dominant services industry activity expanded at its fastest pace in four months in October as demand continued to strengthen, despite accelerating price pressures. The Nikkei India Services Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 51.7 in October from September’s 50.7. Sentiments got some support with the Finance Ministry’s green signal to foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals worth Rs 24.56 crore. Traders were also taking some encouragement with NASSCOM’s president R Chandrashekhar statement that India's Information Technology (IT) industry could see an upturn next year. He believes that the coming year could actually witness an upturn in the industry largely based on global economic trends, particularly in the United States. Furthermore, buying in Telecom, Capital Goods and Industrials, too added support to the indices.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, following the mostly positive cues overnight from Wall Street and as investors looked ahead to the US monthly jobs report for October due later in the day. Back home, in scrip specific development, ITC gained after the company launched a new brand ‘Farmland’ to mark its foray into the fresh fruits and vegetables segment. This step taken by the company is part of its efforts to diversify into new areas of agri-business. The company launched four variants of potatoes and would introduce apple by the next quarter under Farmland brand.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33651.39, up by 78.17 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 33531.94 and 33692.58. There were 17 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index, while 2 stocks remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.18%, while Small cap index was up by 0.70%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.92%, Capital Goods up by 0.88%, Industrials up by 0.76%, Realty up by 0.61% and Bankex up by 0.45%, while Healthcare down by 0.34% and Energy down by 0.06% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 1.93%, Cipla up by 1.69%, ONGC up by 1.52%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.27% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.14%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.42%, Lupin down by 1.23%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.84%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.49% and TCS down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has given green signal to foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals worth Rs 24.56 crore. It has approved two proposals, one from Sterling Commerce Solutions and another from Arval India. The proposals were cleared by the Department of Economic Affairs, under Ministry of Finance, in October 2017.

The proposals included that of Sterling Commerce Solutions India which sought approval for issue of shares to the shareholders of three wholly-owned subsidiaries of IBM India upon their merger with the company. The proposal involved investments worth Rs 24.56 crore. Another proposal from Arval India, which does not require any additional FDI, has been approved to undertake the activity of financial lease in addition to the current activity of operating lease.

The ministry also said that a proposal from Ivanhoe India Equities Inc to provide investment advisory services to overseas entities by a yet to be incorporated Indian investee company has been returned as it was premature.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10441.50, up by 17.70 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 10403.60 and 10461.70. There were 25 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 1.75%, Indusind Bank up by 1.65%, Axis Bank up by 1.48%, ONGC up by 1.41% and Cipla up by 1.33%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 1.60%, Sun Pharma down by 1.46%, Eicher Motors down by 1.09%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.05% and BPCL down by 1.03% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.21 points or 0.07% to 1,742.26, KOSPI Index increased 3.25 points or 0.13% to 2,549.61, Taiwan Weighted increased 12.26 points or 0.11% to 10,800.77 and Hang Seng increased 80.63 points or 0.28% to 28,599.27.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 38.3 points or 0.64% to 5,992.80 and Shanghai Composite decreased 29.89 points or 0.88% to 3,353.42.