Benchmarks trade with modest gains in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks have made a cautious start but managed to trade above water in early deals on Wednesday. Traders took some solace with report that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) board will consider proposals to ease compliance norms for insolvent firms - especially with regard to trading, listing and de-listing, and declaring results-at its meeting on Thursday. However, gains remained capped as traders remained concerned with GST collections slipping to their lowest in November as rates were cut on dozens of goods to make the new national sales tax regime more acceptable. Total collections under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in November slipped for the second straight month to Rs 80,808 crore, down from over Rs 83,000 crore in the previous month.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green, though trading remained thin in a holiday-shortened week. Energy stocks were higher after oil prices breached $60 a barrel for the first time since 2015 after a pipeline blast in Libya. However, the US markets made a modestly lower closing in the last session, following the long holiday weekend. Tech heavy Nasdaq was weighed down by a notable decline by shares of Apple.

Back home, select tech stocks remained under pressure following their global counter parts, while the energy stocks remained buzzing on report of the spike in international crude prices. In scrip specific developments, Reliance Communications continued its northward journey on planning to reduce debt by 85%, while Dabur India gained on launching fruit-based mocktails.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34106.34, up by 95.73 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 34014.88 and 34109.46. There were 20 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.25%, while Small cap index was up by 0.41%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.30%, PSU up by 0.53%, Power up by 0.51%, Utilities up by 0.47% and Industrials was up by 0.36%, while Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services was down by 0.01% were the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.07%, NTPC up by 1.13%, SBI up by 0.92%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.77% and Power Grid Corporation up by 0.77%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 0.61%, Coal India down by 0.46%, Asian Paints down by 0.39%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.31% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.29% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Grant Thornton in its latest International Business Report (IBR) has said that business leaders in India remained largely positive, but their level of optimism has dropped to its lowest level in four years. According to the report, Asia Pacific business optimism has hit a 2-year high, mainly on account of improvements from its two biggest economies, China and Japan, and region-wide positivity on prospects for increased trade.

The report titled ‘Asia Pacific: trading and thriving’ stated that India's optimism mostly remained positive at 78 percent, but dropped to its lowest level in four years. Besides, Australia and New Zealand are on the same boat too, as optimism in Australia dropped to 58 percent from 75 percent a year ago and New Zealand is down to 68 percent, the lowest in two years. Besides, Grant Thornton's IBR survey data showed that India's businesses are the most positive in the region (58 percent) when it comes to the opportunity presented by increasing spending power of the rising middle class. The biggest threat to the region cited by businesses is the trend of ageing populations, followed by regional conflict regarding competing territorial claims and the rebalancing of China's economy.

Vishesh C Chandiok, National Managing Partner, Grant Thornton India has said that in the last 12 months, businesses in India have had to deal with the impact of radical reforms such as demonetisation, country-wide consolidated indirect tax and a new bankruptcy regime. However, he also said with the largest gain of any country in the ‘World Bank ease of doing business ranking’ and favourable macro-economic conditions, India remains one of the few bright spots in the global economy. Rodger Flynn, Grant Thornton regional head for Asia-Pacific has said that businesses across the region are grappling with a range of economic, cultural and political challenges, despite their overall positive outlook. If left unaddressed, these challenges could overshadow the growth prospects the report has identified.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10540.35, up by 8.85 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 10515.65 and 10543.65. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 2.90%, Cipla up by 1.26%, SBI up by 0.79%, NTPC up by 0.73% and ONGC up by 0.70%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 0.88%, HPCL down by 0.64%, Hindalco down by 0.60%, Asian Paints down by 0.54% and Indian Oil Corp. down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 6.7 points or 0.38% to 1,766.69, Hang Seng rose 8.31 points or 0.03% to 29,586.32, Nikkei 225 jumped 23.6 points or 0.1% to 22,916.29, Jakarta Composite increased 30.28 points or 0.49% to 6,251.30 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 64.2 points or 0.62% to 10,486.11.

On the flip side, KOSPI Index decreased 4.86 points or 0.2% to 2,422.48 and Shanghai Composite was down by 4.34 points or 0.13% to 3,301.79.