Bourses trade in green territory; Telecom stocks gain

Key Indian equity benchmarks added some gains in late morning session, with the Sensex gaining more than 100 points, aided by firm cues from other Asian markets. Traders were taking some encouragement with Niti Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar’s statement that India’s economy bottomed out and is on the rise again, citing good third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) numbers for the fiscal year 2017-18. Some support also came with report highlighting that government is committed to bring down fiscal deficit in the medium term. The government also expects Asia's third largest economy to grow at 8 percent in the next couple of years. Besides, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that focus would be laid on development of 115 backward districts that he termed as ‘aspirational districts’ also provided some support to the markets.  However, the broader markets failed to follow the firm larger peers.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, as concerns about a global trade war eased after the White House indicated that some countries could be exempt from President Donald Trump's planned tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Better-than-expected regional economic data also boosted investors’ sentiments. Back home, in scrip specific development, Lupin gained after the company inked an agreement with CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL, Pune) and Department of Science and Technology, (DST, Delhi) for conducting research on a continuous purification process development of a biosimilar monoclonal antibody therapeutic.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33164.42, up by 131.33 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 33037.48 and 33309.36. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.19%, while Small cap index was down by 0.49%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.00%, TECK up by 0.73%, IT up by 0.69%, Energy up by 0.37% and Auto up by 0.24%, while Healthcare down by 0.76%, Metal down by 0.59%, Basic Materials down by 0.56%, Industrials down by 0.32% and FMCG down by 0.30% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 1.59%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.52%, HDFC up by 1.52%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.37% and Infosys up by 1.31%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 4.36%, Sun Pharma down by 2.44%, Tata Motors down by 1.15%, Coal India down by 1.13% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India C. Rangarajan has stated that Indian banks need to overcome their present problems as quickly as possible to be able to provide larger amount of credit. His comments came amid the Rs 12,700 crore scam detected recently at India's state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) and the banking system's overall struggle to overcome the mounting problem of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs).

To a query on the problems of NPAs or bad loans and frauds that have hit the country's banking system, Rangarajan said, ‘I think the banking system is stressed. It had already been stressed for some years’. He also feels that through recapitalisation and other measures, there is need to ensure that the banking system gets strong enough to be able to begin the process of lending. He noted that the primary role of banks is to raise deposits and lend money to borrowers.

Recently, the PNB had detected fraudulent transactions worth about Rs 12,700 crore at one of its branches in Mumbai. The transactions were allegedly carried out by diamond jeweller Nirav Modi by acquiring fraudulent letters of undertaking (LoUs) from the lender's Brady House branch in Mumbai to secure overseas credit from other Indian lenders.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10197.95, up by 43.75 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 10146.40 and 10241.40. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 1.79%, ICICI Bank up by 1.71%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.55%, Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 1.53% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.51%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 3.88%, Sun Pharma down by 2.42%, Coal India down by 1.16%, Tata Motors down by 1.02% and Hindalco down by 1.00% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 5.27 points or 0.29% to 1,843.17, Shanghai Composite increased 6.22 points or 0.19% to 3,277.89, KOSPI Index increased 21.38 points or 0.89% to 2,423.20, Jakarta Composite increased 49.35 points or 0.77% to 6,417.62, Nikkei 225 increased 77.42 points or 0.36% to 21,330.14, Taiwan Weighted increased 77.92 points or 0.73% to 10,823.24 and Hang Seng increased 379.38 points or 1.26% to 30,576.30.