Bourses off Day’s high; Utilities, Capital Goods stocks surge

Indian equities came off day's highs in early afternoon session but were still holding strong gains, on account of buying by participants. Sentiments remained positive with former Reserve Bank of India Governor YV Reddy’s statement that amid uncertainties in the global economic order, a sense of optimism about the future is more in India than in other parts of the world. Some comfort also came with report that investments in the Indian capital market through participatory notes (P-notes) climbed to Rs 1.31 lakh crore at October-end after hitting an over eight- year low in the preceding month. All the sectoral indices edged up on the bourses with Utilities, Capital Goods, and Auto stocks rising the most. However, the market trimmed some of their gains on the back of subdued trend in Asian markets. In scrip specific development, Prime Focus was up by over a percent on receiving an approval for issuance of up to 3,11,32,076 fully convertible warrants on preferential basis, for an amount aggregating up to Rs 330 crore.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as softer oil and copper prices and uncertainty over US policy kept many investors on the sidelines, even as some high-tech bellwethers bounced back after a searing sell-off. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32759.22, up by 162.04 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 32598.12 and 32856.09. There were 23 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.83%, while Small cap index was up by 0.78%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.67%, Capital Goods up by 1.49%, Auto up by 1.40%, Consumer Durables up by 1.35% and Power up by 1.30%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.22%, NTPC up by 2.20%, Tata Steel up by 1.88%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.77% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.62%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 0.75%, Sun Pharma down by 0.65%, Reliance Industries down by 0.35%, TCS down by 0.34% and Power Grid down by 0.12% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing disappointment over the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) decision to leave key policy rates unchanged, India Inc has said there is a need to revive domestic demand and encourage investment through lower cost of capital to crank up growth. Besides, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Director General Chandrajit Banerjee has expressed hopes that going forward the central bank would shift its policy stance to accommodative from neutral and effect a cut in interest rates to revive domestic demand, which would provide a boost to broad-based investment activity that has yet to take off in a big way.

Banerjee also observed that a reduction in interest rates would give the necessary signal that fiscal and monetary policies are working in tandem to give a boost to growth. Assocham President Sandeep Jajodia pointed out that while inflation weighed on the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee of the RBI, the growth concerns cannot be brushed aside either, as the cost of capital is still high in India. He also noted that India Inc continues to remain over-leveraged while consumer demand is still subdued.

RBI Governor Urjit Patel along with six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) maintained status quo for the second time in a row during fifth-bi-monthly monetary policy of FY18. Policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) continues to stand at 6%, while reverse repo rate under the LAF remains at 5.75%, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 6.25%. However, RBI has raised the inflation forecast for the next two quarters from 4.2-4.6% to 4.3-4.7% on rising crude oil and vegetable prices.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10104.30, up by 60.20 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 10061.90 and 10128.35. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 4.59%, Tech Mahindra up by 4.27%, Bosch up by 2.21%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 2.19% and Maruti Suzuki up by 2.18%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 0.98%, Sun Pharma down by 0.63%, TCS down by 0.40%, Cipla down by 0.33% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.26% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted decreased 38.16 points or 0.37% to 10,355.76, Shanghai Composite shed 26.98 points or 0.82% to 3,266.99, KOSPI Index dipped 12.39 points or 0.5% to 2,461.98 and Jakarta Composite fell 9.47 points or 0.16% to 6,026.04.

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.56 points or 0.09% to 1,719.89, Hang Seng was up by 66.66 points or 0.24% to 28,291.46 and Nikkei 225 added 320.99 points or 1.45% to 22,498.03.