Bourses trade in fine fettle; Sensex gains 90 points

Key Indian benchmarks were trading in fine fettle in late morning session, with the Sensex gaining more than 90 points. Buying in Realty, Energy and PSU stocks were adding some optimism on the street. Investors took some support from a report which said that direct tax collections in the first nine months of the current fiscal grew 18.2 percent to Rs 6.56 lakh crore, mainly on account of income tax mop-up from individuals. Traders were also optimistic with the report that the Commerce and Industry Ministry is mulling incentives for States that play a proactive role in promoting exports as it will help boost economic growth. It added that a strategy was being prepared to increase the share of international trade in India’s GDP. Some support also came with CARE Ratings’ latest report that growth in bank credit is a positive sign which if sustained could point towards a recovery in terms of demand for funds for investment purposes. However, gains were restricted with rating agency Crisil attributing the continuing slowdown to the impacts of the demonetisation, GST implementation and weakness in agriculture, though it has maintained its FY19 growth estimate at 7.6 per cent on the low base.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, following mixed lead overnight from Wall Street. Besides, investors focused on the ongoing talks between South Korea and North Korea, the first formal talk between the two Koreas in more than two years. Back home, in scrip specific development, Tata Motors traded higher after the company’ subsidiary -- Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has achieved record global sales in 2017 with retails of 621,109 vehicles, up 6.5% on the prior year, despite tough conditions in some markets.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34444.92, up by 92.13 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 34343.41 and 34487.52. There were 14 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.10%, while Small cap index was up by 0.38%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.62%, Energy up by 1.11%, PSU up by 0.53%, Consumer Durables up by 0.49% and FMCG up by 0.42%, while IT down by 0.38%, TECK down by 0.30%, Utilities down by 0.06% and Healthcare down by 0.02% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 5.98%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.94%, Tata Motors up by 1.73%, Reliance Industries up by 1.41% and ITC up by 1.21%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 0.82%, ICICI Bank down by 0.72%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.71%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.71% and Infosys down by 0.50% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, attributing the continuing slowdown to the after-effects of the demonetisation exercise, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation and weakness in agriculture, rating agency, CRISIL in its latest report has maintained its projection of India's economic growth in 2018-19 to 7.6 percent on the low base. The CRISIL note comes days after the Central Statistics Office (CSO) came out with its First Advance Estimates of National Income, 2017-18, in which it stated that Indian economy is expected to grow at a four-year low of 6.5 percent in the current fiscal year 2017-18, as against 7.1 percent in the fiscal year 2016-17.

The rating agency has stated that given the low base and the expected waning of the GST impacts going ahead, they retain their forecast of 7.6 percent real GDP growth in fiscal 2019, with private consumption leading the recovery. It noted that private consumption is expected to grow 6.3 percent in FY18, as against 8.7 percent a year before, and will remain the largest contributor to the country's GDP at 55.7 percent. Adding further, it said that in FY19 as well, growth will continue to be consumption-led as inflation will be under control and interest rates are expected to be soft. It also said that increase in government employees' salaries with the implementation of the seventh pay panel recommendations will also help. It added that the government’s focus on spending towards agriculture and rural themes will also be of help.

According to the report, the government's ambitious Rs 2.11 lakh crore recapitalisation plan over two years will ensure that the state-run banks are well positioned to support the growth. It also observed that support to growth will also come from the external sector where the global recovery should help exports, which had faced some headwinds after the GST implementation.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10636.30, up by 12.70 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 10607.90 and 10659.15. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 6.14%, Tata Motors up by 1.89%, Reliance Industries up by 1.41%, Yes Bank up by 1.32% and ITC up by 1.20%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 1.57%, Eicher Motors down by 1.49%, HCL Tech. down by 1.44%, Hindalco down by 1.30% and HPCL down by 1.25% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite increased 2.67 points or 0.08% to 3,412.15, Hang Seng increased 75.18 points or 0.24% to 30,974.71 and Nikkei 225 increased 146.53 points or 0.62% to 23,861.06.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 21.87 points or 0.34% to 6,363.54, Taiwan Weighted decreased 20.08 points or 0.18% to 10,895.67, KOSPI Index decreased 6.7 points or 0.27% to 2,506.58 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 2.01 points or 0.11% to 1,830.14.