Sensex, Nifty maintain uptrend; IT stocks lead

Key Indian benchmarks maintained their uptrend in late morning session, with Sensex gaining over 100 points, backed by buying in IT and TECK stocks. Traders remained optimistic with Crisil’s latest report stating that India will benefit from stronger global growth in the fiscal 2019 provided there are no more after effects from the implementation of the new goods and services tax (GST) and the economy manages to tide over the asymmetry in monetary policy of advance economies together with higher crude oil prices. Investors were also taking some encouragement with the private report that business optimism index for the January-March quarter 2018 touched three and half year high on improving demand conditions and expectation that government sops in the budget will revive consumption. Some support also came with the report that India's rank may improve in the international intellectual property index this year with the introduction of national IPR policy adding to its systemic efficiency.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, following the negative cues overnight from Wall Street and lower commodity prices. Investors’ reaction to upbeat regional economic data was also muted. Back home, in scrip specific development, Gayatri Projects was trading higher after the company bagged two new orders worth Rs 923 crore from National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34873.86, up by 102.81 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 34700.82 and 34930.80. There were 16 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.08%, while Small cap index was down by 0.42%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.48%, TECK up by 1.04%, Healthcare up by 0.55%, Bankex up by 0.50% and PSU up by 0.36%, while Realty down by 1.03%, Consumer Durables down by 0.68%, Telecom down by 0.51%, Consumer Disc down by 0.46% and Auto down by 0.38% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.56%, Axis Bank up by 2.02%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.89%, TCS up by 1.86% and ICICI Bank up by 1.63%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.74%, Tata Motors down by 1.51%, Wipro down by 1.49%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.94% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.89% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, ahead of the Union Budget that will be presented on February 1, the stainless steel industry has asked the government to remove import duty on both ferro-nickel and stainless steel scrap. At present, the import duty on Ferro nickel and stainless steel scrap is 2.5 percent. The Indian Stainless Steel Development Association (ISSDA) has sought removal of customs duty on key raw materials used in producing stainless steel, in its pre-budget wish list. It said that though the government had removed customs duty on pure nickel in the previous Budget, it didn't help the industry much since most of nickel used by stainless steel makers is in the form ferro-nickel.

Therefore, industry body demanded that the same relief should now be extended to ferro-nickel. It noted that the raw material has to be necessarily imported because India hardly has any nickel resources. Further, it pointed out that since all the stainless steel is produced through electric furnaces, stainless steel scrap is the main raw material which also provides cost effective source of alloying elements like chrome and nickel. It added that the scrap is also not available in the country and has to be imported. Thereupon, the ISSDA has also asked the government to bring the customs duty for stainless steel scrap to zero from the present 2.5 percent.

ISSDA President K K Pahuja further said that it is absolutely necessary to preserve competitiveness of Indian stainless steel industry at a time when government is building new trade relations with other countries and they appeal to the Finance Ministry to remove basic custom duty on both ferro-nickel and stainless steel scrap. Besides, Steel Secretary Aruna Sharma had earlier said that along with ferro-nickel, the steel ministry had pitched for bringing down import duty on stainless steel scrap to zero. She also said that the steel ministry had already made a request to the finance ministry in this regard.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10732.40, up by 31.95 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 10666.75 and 10741.40. There were 28 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 2.68%, HPCL up by 2.06%, TCS up by 1.97%, ICICI Bank up by 1.84% and Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.83%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.55%, Wipro down by 1.54%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.45%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.37% and GAIL India down by 1.29% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 84.64 points or 0.27% to 31,820.11, Nikkei 225 decreased 70.9 points or 0.3% to 23,880.91, KOSPI Index decreased 11.33 points or 0.45% to 2,510.41, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 2.22 points or 0.12% to 1,823.81 and Jakarta Composite decreased 1.79 points or 0.03% to 6,427.90.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 15.39 points or 0.45% to 3,451.98 and Taiwan Weighted increased 18.69 points or 0.17% to 11,004.80.