Markets at Day’s high; Realty top gainer

The local equity benchmarks added gains in late afternoon session to trade near intraday high points, aided by firm opening in European markets. Rally in Asian markets and the broader markets, were also supporting the sentiments. Besides, Realty index maintained gains to remain top gainer among other sectoral indices, followed by Auto and Industrials index. The sentiments took encouragement with a private report stating that India’s economic recovery is expected to have gathered momentum and GDP growth is likely to grow at its fastest pace at 7 per cent in the December quarter as consumers, businesses and the government stepped up spending. Separately, another private report stated that focus on investment, productivity will lead to sustainable growth rate in India. Besides, the major industry gainers like Motors, Indusind Bank and Maruti Suzuki, were also joined the rally on the Dalal Street.  Traders were optimistic, as Commerce and industry ministry has appointed four institutes, including IIFT and ICAI, to interact with stakeholders and suggest measures to push India’s ranking in ease of doing business index. Sentiments also got some support with Railway and Coal minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the government is thinking of 360 degree solutions in terms of setting things in order for infrastructure sector.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as investors prepared for an event-packed week of economic data. Besides, technology stocks led the gains, after major telecom operators announced their respective timelines for the adopting of next-generation 5G networks. Asian markets were also trading in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, Vivimed Labs gained after the company’s Joint Venture (JV) received its first product approval Ranitidine tablet USP, 150 mg (OTC) and will be launched in the US markets.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34454.67, up by 312.52 points or 0.92% after trading in a range of 34225.72 and 34477.59. There were 24 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.75%, while Small cap index was up by 0.93%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.28%, Auto up by 1.90%, Industrials up by 1.65%, Capital Goods up by 1.62% and Bankex up by 1.61%, while IT down by 1.03%, TECK down by 0.67% and Healthcare down by 0.03% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 3.11%, Indusind Bank up by 2.93%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.58%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.55% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.54%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.97%, Infosys down by 1.44%, TCS down by 1.05%, Wipro down by 0.97% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.62% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, raising some concerns among the Indian techies, US President Donald Trump’s administration has came out with a new H1B visas policy memorandum. The new policy with tougher rules makes the procedure of issuing H-1B visas more difficult to those to be employed at one or more third-party worksites. This move is expected to impact Indian Information Technology (IT) companies as they are among the major users of this visa.

As per the new policy, Indian IT companies will have to furnish detailed documentation and more evidence to prove that their H1B employees deployed at third-party worksites have specific and non-qualifying speculative assignments in speciality occupation. The new policy empowers the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to issue H-1B visas to an employee for only the period he/she has work at a third-party worksite, reversing the tradition of issuing H-1B visa for 3 years at a time. It has also made the process of extension of H-1B visas more difficult.

The new policy announcement is a part of President Trump’s ‘Buy American and Hire American Executive Order’ and the directive to protect the interests of US workers, which seeks to create higher wages and employment rates for US workers and to protect their economic interests by rigorously enforcing and administering our immigration laws.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10586.55, up by 95.50 points or 0.91% after trading in a range of 10520.20 and 10589.80. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 3.18%, Indusind Bank up by 2.97%, UPL up by 2.72%, Indian Oil Corp. up by 2.69% and Maruti Suzuki up by 2.69%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.90%, Infosys down by 1.67%, Wipro down by 1.24%, TCS down by 1.12% and HCL Tech. down by 0.93% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.72 points or 0.04% to 1,862.22, KOSPI Index increased 6.13 points or 0.25% to 2,457.65, Shanghai Composite increased 40.55 points or 1.23% to 3,329.57, Taiwan Weighted increased 42.15 points or 0.39% to 10,836.70, Hang Seng increased 231.43 points or 0.74% to 31,498.60 and Nikkei 225 increased 260.85 points or 1.19% to 22,153.63. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 56.71 points or 0.86% to 6,563.09.

All European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 34.59 points or 0.48% to 7,279.00, France’s CAC increased 36.87 points or 0.69% to 5,354.24 and Germany’s DAX increased 115.48 points or 0.93% to 12,599.27.