Indian bourses trim gains in afternoon deals

Key benchmark indices pared some of their initial gains in early afternoon session but continued to trade in green on account of buying in front line blue chip counters. Sentiments remained in green with the credit rating agency, Ind-Ra’s projection that the country's economic growth will improve to 7.1 percent in the next fiscal year 2018-19 from 6.5 percent in the current year 2017-18, supported by robust consumption demand and low commodity prices. Some support also came with report that GST Council decided to cut tax rates on 29 products and 53 services. Besides, optimism ahead of corporate earnings results by index heavyweight Reliance Industries later in the day, also helped the key indices to trade in the positive zone. However, selling in Utilities, Basic Materials and Power stocks, trimmed some of the gains. In scrip specific development, HDFC Bank was trading in green after reporting 20.11% rise in its net profit at Rs 4642.60 crore for Q3FY18 as compared to Rs 3865.33 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, underpinned by robust Oct-Dec corporate earnings. China’s economy grew faster than expected in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, helped by a rebound in the industrial sector, a resilient property market and strong export growth. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35335.61, up by 75.32 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 35221.16 and 35434.08. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.40%, while Small cap index was down by 0.30%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 0.53%, Energy up by 0.23%, PSU up by 0.20%, Capital Goods up by 0.14% and FMCG up by 0.11%, while Utilities down by 0.81%, Basic Materials down by 0.79%, Power down by 0.78%, Consumer Durables down by 0.45% and Realty down by 0.42% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.85%, ICICI Bank up by 1.00%, SBI up by 0.94%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.70% and Reliance Industries up by 0.55%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 0.90%, NTPC down by 0.87%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.74%, Tata Motors down by 0.68% and Wipro down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Power Minister R.K. Singh has said that the central government will set up a $350 million fund to finance solar power projects, as it steps up efforts to achieve its ambitious goal of to increasing renewable power capacity to 175 gigawatts (GW) by the year 2022. He also said that International Solar Alliance (ISA) shall help mobilise sufficient funds for solar energy projects. Underlining the immense financing challenge ahead, he pointed out that India will need at least $125 billion to fund its ambitious plan to increase the share of renewable power supply in the country’s grid by 2022.

The minister has stated that over the years, renewable energy has become cheaper and is set to replace conventional energy, which is a healthy development. Besides, he noted that India, which receives twice as much sunshine as European nations, wants to make solar central to its renewable expansion. Adding further, he said that the government expects renewable energy to make up 40 percent of installed power capacity by 2030, compared with 18.2 percent at the end of 2017.

Singh further highlighted that installed renewable power capacity is currently about 60 GW, and India plans to complete the bidding process by the end of 2019/20 to add a further 115 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2022. He also said that India's Yes Bank has committed to financing solar projects worth $5 billion, while state-run NTPC will contribute $1 million to an ISA fund. He added that the country wants foreign capital to account for a bulk of its investments to meet its renewable energy target. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10829.05, up by 12.05 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 10793.90 and 10857.70. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.75%, Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 1.61%, SBI up by 1.01%, ICICI Bank up by 0.98% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.68%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 1.99%, Ambuja Cement down by 1.80%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 1.79%, UPL down by 1.19% and Sun Pharma down by 0.99% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.12 points or 0.12% to 1,823.72, KOSPI Index was up by 4.45 points or 0.18% to 2,520.26, Shanghai Composite added 15.7 points or 0.45% to 3,490.45, Nikkei 225 rose 44.69 points or 0.19% to 23,808.06, Hang Seng surged 45.36 points or 0.14% to 32,167.30 and Taiwan Weighted increased 79.28 points or 0.72% to 11,150.85.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 22.83 points or 0.35% to 6,449.84.