Benchmarks trade in green; Sensex surpasses 34,000 mark

Indian equity benchmarks continued their trade in green in morning session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The rupee opened higher against the dollar on account of selling of American currency by banks and exporters. Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 374.65 crore on Monday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 464.59 crore. The sentiments were upbeat after India’s industrial production grew at a robust pace for the third straight month, at 7.5% in January, while retail inflation slowed for the second consecutive month to 4.4% in February, signaling that the economy may be set on a strong recovery path. The data released by the Central Statistics Office showed that the factory output growth was led by a robust growth in the manufacturing sector which showed a growth of 8.7%. The index expanded in the month of January compared to a 7.1% growth in December and 8.8% in November. Meanwhile, retail inflation cooled to 4.44% in February compared to 5.07% in January.

Separately, a report enlightened that employment in eight key sectors, including manufacturing, IT and transport, rose by 1.36 lakh on net basis in July-September this fiscal compared to the previous quarter. Construction sector was the only segment that reported job losses of 22,000 in the second quarter of FY2017-18. Manufacturing sector added 89,000 jobs, education sector added 21,000 jobs while transport sector saw addition of 20,000 jobs. Trade (14,000), health (11,000), accommodation & restaurant (2,000) and IT/BPO sector (1,000) also reported job additions. Additionally, a Union Minister said that foreign direct investment has increased steadily in the country with total capital inflows reaching $208.99 billion during April 2014 to December 2017 period. The main sectors that received maximum foreign inflows include services, computer software and hardware, telecommunications, construction, trading and automobile.

Select stocks related to realty sector were buzzing with ICRA’s report which enlightened that in what can be seen as a possible recovery in the housing market, sales improved by 29.3% year-on-year during the April to December period last year, while the time taken to clear the inventory went down to 12 quarters. The report added that real estate companies sold 17.26 million sq ft during the nine months, against 13.35 million sq ft in the year-ago period. Investors shrugged off a private report which raised concern that even as the economy has largely recovered from the shocks of demonetization and GST implementation, micro enterprises with borrowings of under Rs 10 lakh are yet to fully recover. The report reiterated that the situation has improved in all segments except those with borrowings less than Rs 50 lakh, where the systemic exposure has not caught up with pre-demonetization levels.

Traders were seen buying in Oil & Gas, Telecom and PSU stocks, while selling was witnessed in IT, TECK and Metal sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Bank of India (BoI) was trading firm on reports that the public sector lender has recovered Rs 7,000 crore of non-performing assets. For the quarter ended December 31, 2017, the company reported a net loss of Rs 2,341.20 crore against net profit of Rs 101.72 in the corresponding quarter last year.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red. China is merging its banking and insurance regulators and creating a slew of ministries including a new agricultural and rural affairs ministry as part of the biggest government shake-up in years. Back home, the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty were trading above the psychological 34,000 and 10,450 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1592:657, while 95 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34027.17, up by 109.23 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 33790.09 and 34077.32. 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 0.78%, while Small cap index was up by 1.04%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.38%, Telecom up by 1.31%, PSU up by 1.26%, Bankex up by 1.06% and Realty up by 0.86%, while IT down by 0.85%, TECK down by 0.60% and Metal down by 0.37% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 2.12%, Axis Bank up by 1.96%, SBI up by 1.80%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.24% and HDFC up by 1.16%.

On the flip side, TCS down by 4.70%, Coal India down by 1.98%, NTPC down by 1.11%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.47% and ONGC down by 0.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Labour Santosh Kumar Gangwar has said that his ministry is working on national policy in order to protect interests of domestic workers which has been pending for almost three years, as the policy was to be presented before the Cabinet in 2015. He noted that the policy aims to expand the scope of existing legislation, policies and schemes to grant domestic workers rights that are enshrined in laws for other category of workers including minimum wage, equal remuneration, etc. He added that the policy also includes social security cover and provisions against sexual harassment and bonded labour.

The minister has stated that among others, the policy envisages to make a provision for a minimum salary of Rs 9,000 per month, compulsory paid leave of 15 days annually and maternity leave benefits to full-time domestic helps. Besides, he noted that the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008 is already in place to provide life and disability cover, health and maternity benefits, old age protection to the unorganised workers. He also mentioned that various departments and ministries of the central government run schemes like Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme and National Family Benefit Scheme, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has schemes of maternity and health benefit.

Gangwar further said that the centre has recently converged the social security schemes of Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana with Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) to provide life and disability coverage to the unorganised workers including domestic workers in the age group of 18-50, depending upon eligibility. He pointed out that PMJJBY gives coverage of Rs 2 lakh on death at premium of Rs 330 per annum and PMSBY gives Rs 2 lakh coverage on accidental death besides disability benefits at premium of Rs 12 per annum. He noted that the annual premium is shared on 50:50 basis by the Centre and State governments/state nodal agencies. He added that the benefits of these schemes are also available to female domestic workers.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10458.15, up by 36.75 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 10381.95 and 10478.60. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HPCL up by 4.53%, BPCL up by 3.36%, Wipro up by 2.24%, Axis Bank up by 1.95% and SBI up by 1.84%.

On the flip side, TCS down by 5.03%, Coal India down by 1.98%, NTPC down by 1.23%, Hindalco down by 1.19% and Zee Entertainment down by 0.87% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 71.94 points or 0.23% to 31,522.39, Jakarta Composite decreased 49.03 points or 0.75% to 6,451.66, Shanghai Composite decreased 9.12 points or 0.27% to 3,317.58 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.12 points or 0.06% to 1,860.10.

On the other hand, KOSPI Index increased 2.58 points or 0.1% to 2,486.70, Taiwan Weighted increased 77.37 points or 0.7% to 11,079.47 and Nikkei 225 increased 110.48 points or 0.51% to 21,934.51.