Benchmarks trade in fine fettle in morning deals

Recovering from initial hiccups, Indian equity benchmarks turned green and are trading in fine fettle in early deals on Tuesday with Sensex and Nifty recapturing their crucial 33,900 and 10,400 level, respectively as traders opted to buy beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks after two days of continuous drubbing. Traders took some encouragement with Suresh Prabhu’s statement that the government will soon come out with a comprehensive strategy to increase the share of global trade to 40 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), which is expected to touch $5 trillion by 2025. However, traders remained concerned after recent developments with the loan fraud in PNB. The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested three more employees of PNB on Monday over a $1.77 billion loan fraud, and the government said the scandal exposed a supervisory failure by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red at this point of time led by Japanese Nikkei, which edged notably lower despite a weaker yen. Traders also remained on sidelines ahead of January results for machine tool orders and convenience store sales today. The US markets remain closed on Monday for a holiday.

Back home, telecom sector rang loud on report that the Cabinet is likely to decide next month on the relief package for the telecom sector, based on the recommendations of an inter-ministerial group, including giving more time to telecom operators to make payment for spectrum and increasing the holding limit of radio waves. In scrip specific development, Sun Pharma edged higher with arm hiking stake in Ranbaxy Malaysia and KEC International advanced with promoter hiking stake in the company.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33938.47, up by 163.81 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 33753.50 and 33940.51. There were 25 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.45%, while Small cap was index up by 0.56%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.50%, Basic Materials up by 1.02%, IT up by 1.00%, TECK up by 0.93% and Consumer Durables was up by 0.90%, while Realty down by 0.02% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 1.67%, TCS up by 1.67%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.31%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.30% and Axis Bank was up by 1.21%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.74%, Coal India down by 0.36%, Adani Ports down by 0.36%, Asian Paints down by 0.17% and ITC was down by 0.06% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to provide fillip to exports and make global trade the foundation of Indian economy, the commerce minister Suresh Prabhu has said that the government will soon come out with a comprehensive strategy to increase the share of exports to 40% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and is expected to touch $5 trillion by 2025. According to the Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO), the current share of exports in GDP is only 18-19%.

Elaborating further, Prabhu said that out of the $5 trillion, as much as $3 trillion will come from the services sector, while $1 trillion each will come from the manufacturing and agriculture sectors. He added that the more than doubling of shipments will demand that the economy massively increase the share of manufacturing in the overall GDP basket, which is around 14%. He also urged the business community to come up with a proper business plan to increase exports.

In order to ensure export to new markets and ship out new products, the commerce minister said that they are in the process of preparing a new strategy for diversifying their export basket. In this regard, they are preparing a marketing strategy and the focus would be on attracting foreign investment and engaging the global community. At present, the size of India’s GDP is $2.6 trillion, which is the fifth largest in the world after the US, China, Japan, Germany and Britain, while its share in global trade is paltry and is under 2% only.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10422.60, up by 44.20 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 10358.50 and 10425.20. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 2.29%, TCS up by 1.69%, Hindalco up by 1.62%, Tata Steel up by 1.56% and Indiabulls Housing up by 1.51%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 0.81%, Bharti Infratel down by 0.79%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.76%, Adani Ports down by 0.62% and Coal India down by 0.59% were the top losers.

Asian market are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 declined 223.34 points or 1.01% to 21,925.87, Jakarta Composite shed 34.02 points or 0.51% to 6,655.27, KOSPI Index decreased 20.79 points or 0.85% to 2,422.03 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.69 points or 0.04% to 1,856.63. On the flip side, Hang Seng was up by 36.22 points or 0.12% to 31,151.65.