Key indices continue to trade in green territory

Key benchmark indices continued to trade in green territory in early afternoon session, on the back of better-than-expected macroeconomic data. The country’s Industrial activity expanded 7.5 per cent in January, up from 7.1 per cent in December, while the consumer price index (CPI) inflation, fell to four-month low of 4.4 per cent in February. The sentiments on the street got support with Union Minister’s statement 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 gains at Dalal Street were also supported by Realty, PSU, Telecom and Oil & Gas stocks. In the currency front, the rupee inched up by 5 paise to 64.99 against the US dollar in early trade on mild selling of the greenback by exporters. In scrip specific development, Goa Carbon was up by over four percent on reporting production of 11,722.000 million tonnes (MT) of Calcined Petroleum Coke for the month of February 2018.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as investors look ahead to the release of crucial US inflation data. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33999.38, up by 81.44 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 33790.09 and 34077.32. There were 22 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.06%, while Small cap index was up by 1.21%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.28%, PSU up by 1.84%, Telecom up by 1.51%, Oil & Gas up by 1.44% and Bankex up by 1.13%, while IT down by 1.18% and TECK down by 0.81% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 2.97%, Axis Bank up by 2.08%, Sun Pharma up by 1.96%, Wipro up by 1.81% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.42%. On the flip side, TCS down by 4.81%, Coal India down by 1.14%, NTPC down by 1.08%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.87% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with softening prices of food articles and lower cost for fuel, India’s retail inflation cooled down to a 4-month low of 4.44% in the month of February 2018, as compared to 5.07% in January. The CPI inflation stood at 3.65% in February 2017. The consumer price index (CPI) number for January was in line with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) revised inflation projection of 5.1% for the quarter ended March, up from its previous forecast of 4.3-4.7%. Consumer food price inflation, a metric to gauge changes in monthly kitchen costs, also fell to 3.26% in February as compared to 4.70% in January, though it was higher than 2.01% in the same month of pervious year.

As per the data of the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) (Rural, Urban, Combined) on Base 2012=100 for February 2018, stood at 4.37%, 4.52% and 4.44% respectively, compared to 3.67%, 3.55% and 3.65% respectively in February 2017. The index value of CPI for combined stood at 136.4. The data also showed that Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) for all India Rural and Urban for February 2018 stood at 3.62% and 2.45%, respectively, compared to 2.08% and 1.87%, respectively in February 2017. The index value of CFPI for combined stood at 136.1 for the month of February.

Inflation in vegetables came down sharply to 17.57% in February from 26.97% in January and prices of fruits eased to 4.80% as against 6.24% in the previous month. Inflation in other food products also softened with Milk and products coming at 3.83%, Cereals and products at 2.10%, Meat and fish at 3.31%, food & beverages at 3.38%, while for eggs the prices grew at a slower pace of 8.51%. Besides, Housing inflation remained almost flat at 8.28% in February as compared to 8.33% a month ago, while fuel inflation eased to 6.80% in February from 7.73% in January. Inflation for pan, tobacco & intoxicants was at 7.34%, clothing & footwear at 5% and miscellaneous at 3.85%.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10454.90, up by 33.50 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 10381.95 and 10478.60. There were 34 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were HPCL up by 4.55%, BPCL up by 3.63%, SBI up by 2.99%, Axis Bank up by 2.12% and Bharti Infratel up by 2.11%. On the flip side, TCS down by 5.03%, NTPC down by 1.20%, Coal India down by 1.13%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.80% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.69% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 85.28 points or 0.27% to 31,509.05, Jakarta Composite was down by 52.46 points or 0.81% to 6,448.23, Shanghai Composite shed 11.73 points or 0.35% to 3,314.97 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dropped 1.82 points or 0.1% to 1,859.40.

On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 10.37 points or 0.42% to 2,494.49, Taiwan Weighted was up by 93.53 points or 0.85% to 11,095.63 and Nikkei 225 added 144.07 points or 0.66% to 21,968.10.