Bourses maintain upbeat mood in afternoon deals

Indian equity indices maintained their upbeat mood in early afternoon session, as buying momentum in the equities persisted. Domestic sentiments remained buoyant with Union commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu exuding confidence that India will become a $5 trillion economy in the next seven years, adding that India will be a bigger economy than China at some point of time. He also said that manufacturing sector would contribute $1 trillion, services sector $3 trillion and the rest would come from agriculture for the country to become a $5 trillion economy in the next seven years. Adding the optimism among investors, the IMF said that the Indian economy now seems to be on its way to recovering from disruptions caused by demonetization and roll-out of goods and services tax. Further, positive cues from Asian markets along with sustained buying in IT, TECK, FMCG and Telecom stocks too supported the indices to sustain the early leads. Meanwhile, traders are eyeing macro data (January IIP and February CPI inflation) due later today. In scrip specific development, Dolphin Offshore Enterprise (India) was up by around a percent after entering into a contract with RAL, Malaysia for provision of Diving Equipment and manpower in Middle East. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, as risk appetite improved following the strong gains on Wall Street Friday after the release of upbeat U.S. jobs data for the month of February and as geopolitical tensions eased. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33609.40, up by 302.26 points or 0.91% after trading in a range of 33468.16 and 33673.83. There were 24 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.05%, while Small cap index was up by 0.07%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.74%, TECK up by 1.53%, FMCG up by 1.41%, Telecom up by 1.02% and Metal up by 0.60%, while PSU down by 0.78%, Healthcare down by 0.26% and Power down by 0.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 2.91%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.43%, Infosys up by 2.20%, Wipro up by 1.77% and TCS up by 1.28%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.22%, SBI down by 1.84%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.42%, Power Grid down by 0.36% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.24% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that Indian economy is on its path to recovering from the negative impact of demonetisation and disruption caused by roll out of goods and services tax (GST). It further pointed out that in recent years, India’s economy has expanded strongly, due to macroeconomic policies that emphasise stability and efforts to tackle supply-side bottlenecks and structural reforms. It added that disruptions from note ban and the rollout of GST did slow growth.

As cash transactions dominated India’s economic activity, IMF stated that it was inevitable that demonetisation would temporarily affect economic activity. It also said that the rollout of the GST was a landmark accomplishment that can be expected to enhance efficiency of intra-Indian movement of goods and services, create a common national market, enhance tax buoyancy, and boost GDP growth and job creation.

However, IMF highlighted that with the economy growing by 7.2% in the October-December quarter of 2017-18, India has regained the status of the world's fastest-growing major economy. Calling this development a welcome change, it said that the growth prospects remain optimistic. Adding further, it said that the Indian economy would benefit from further reforms, such as enhancing health and education, encouraging private and public investment, and improving the efficiency of the banking and financial system. It noted that this would support durable and inclusive growth and enable India to move toward the income levels of wealthier countries.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10322.00, up by 95.15 points or 0.93% after trading in a range of 10295.45 and 10342.35. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ITC up by 3.07%, HCL Tech. up by 2.84%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.49%, Infosys up by 2.19% and Wipro up by 1.95%. On the flip side, Aurobindo Pharma down by 2.19%, Coal India down by 2.06%, SBI down by 1.86%, Cipla down by 0.85% and Ambuja Cement down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 15.53 points or 0.84% to 1,859.45, Shanghai Composite added 19.09 points or 0.58% to 3,326.26, KOSPI Index rose 24.67 points or 1% to 2,484.12, Jakarta Composite inched up 37.38 points or 0.58% to 6,470.70, Taiwan Weighted increased 137.28 points or 1.26% to 11,002.10, Nikkei 225 increased 354.83 points or 1.65% to 21,824.03 and Hang Seng added 507.47 points or 1.64% to 31,503.68.