Bourses continue to trade in positive territory

The local barometer gauges added some gains and continued their trade in green in early afternoon session, on buying by funds and retail investors. Sentiments were upbeat with the Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg’s statement that the growth recovery of Indian economy will continue to be sharp going ahead, as the 7.2% expansion in the economy during October-December quarter (third quarter) has put the country in one of the highest growth bracket in the world. Some support also came with a report highlighting that the direct tax collections jumped by nearly 20 per cent between April and February this fiscal as the Income-Tax Department races to meet its full year targets. The net direct tax receipts grew by a hefty 19.5 per cent in the first 11 months of the fiscal amounting to Rs 7.44 lakh crore. The gains at Dalal Street were mainly led by IT, TECK, Consumer Disc and Healthcare stocks. In scrip specific development, Tata Power was up by half a percent on launching IoT based, asset-tracking, automation solution enabled by Tata Communications.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, on news North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had offered to stop nuclear and missile testing and to arrange a meeting with US President Donald Trump. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33473.78, up by 122.21 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 33316.58 and 33519.49. There were 20 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.13%, while Small cap index was up by 0.25%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.92%, TECK up by 0.91%, Consumer Disc up by 0.58%, Healthcare up by 0.55% and Consumer Durables up by 0.54%, while Metal down by 0.97%, Basic Materials down by 0.35%, PSU down by 0.32%, Bankex down by 0.27% and Power down by 0.17% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 1.65%, HDFC up by 1.53%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.07%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.02% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 0.85%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.92%, SBI down by 1.40%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.29%, NTPC down by 0.73% and Axis Bank down by 0.61% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg has expressed hopes that the growth recovery of Indian economy will continue to be sharp going ahead, as the 7.2% expansion in the economy during October-December quarter (third quarter) has put the country in one of the highest growth bracket in the world. Earlier, he said that in the first quarter of current fiscal year 2017-18 (FY18), the economy bottomed out, and would see a very strong V-shaped recovery, and the growth in the second and third quarter brings evidence to that.

Garg further said there is no reason for the V-shaped recovery not to continue henceforth. He also said “I can't talk about double digit growth at this stage, but certainly there will be very strong growth”. Besides, 7.2 % growth in third quarter of FY18 was highest in five quarters, while the previous high was recorded at 7.5% in the July-September quarter of FY17. In Q1 FY18, the Gross Domestic Growth (GDP) grew at 5.7%, while in Q2 FY18 growth stood at 6.5%.

Talking about the country’s sovereign rating, Economic Affairs Secretary said that the global rating agency had a good assessment of India’s future prospects. He added that Fitch assessment about the Indian economy, reforms, and path forward seems to be extremely positive but whether it will result in a certain kind of upgrade and when, that is for the rating agency to decide. Besides, Fitch had last upgraded India's sovereign rating from BB+ to BBB- with stable outlook on August 1, 2006.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10280.70, up by 38.05 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 10230.55 and 10296.70. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 2.06%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 1.80%, TCS up by 1.73%, HDFC up by 1.49% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.47%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.01%, SBI down by 1.52%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.39%, Hindalco down by 0.90% and Yes Bank down by 0.88% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 3.43 points or 0.19% to 1,843.05, Shanghai Composite rose 20.35 points or 0.62% to 3,308.75, KOSPI Index added 26.37 points or 1.08% to 2,459.45, Taiwan Weighted was up by 41.58 points or 0.38% to 10,864.82, Nikkei 225 surged 101.13 points or 0.47% to 21,469.20 and Hang Seng inched up 327.85 points or 1.07% to 30,982.37.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 30.17 points or 0.47% to 6,412.86.