Bourses continue to trade in green territory

Tracking positive Asian markets, Indian benchmark indices continued to trade in green territory in early afternoon session, on sustained buying activities by funds and retail investors. Sentiments remained positive with the government’s decision to bring down market borrowings during the first-half of FY19 following careful assessment of its financial needs. The Centre will raise a gross Rs 2.88 lakh crore from market borrowings in the first half of the fiscal. Additional support came with Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg’s statement that the country is well poised to click a growth rate of 7-8 per cent and with focus on start-ups, MSMEs and infrastructure investment it can step on to higher growth pedestal. Besides, short-covering by speculators ahead of March F&O expiry and an appreciating rupee against the dollar too supported the market. The broader indices too participated in the gains, with both mid cap and small cap indices trading up by over 1%. In scrip specific development, Larsen & Toubro was up by over half percent with its Heavy Engineering arm receiving orders worth Rs 747 crore from Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL).

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, as news that the US and China are open to negotiating to avert a trade war put investors in a buying mood. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33168.16, up by 101.75 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 33077.13 and 33311.31. 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 1.03%, while Small cap index was up by 1.25%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.32%, Metal up by 1.24%, PSU up by 1.05%, Basic Materials up by 0.99% and Bankex up by 0.89%, while Telecom down by 1.49% and TECK down by 0.03% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 2.05%, SBI up by 1.87%, Tata Steel up by 1.77%, Sun Pharma up by 1.61% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.48%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.54%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.80%, HDFC down by 0.63%, NTPC down by 0.56% and ONGC down by 0.50% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, over 1,200 fresh foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were registered with markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) during April-January period of fiscal year 2017-18, driven by their continued interest in Indian equity, bonds and real estate. According to the SEBI data, the number of FPIs with the markets regulator climbed to 9,083 at the end of January 2018 from 7,807 at March 2017, resulting in an addition of 1,276. This comes on top of about 3,500 new FPIs registering with SEBI in the previous fiscal.  

The SEBI’s board in December had decided to relax entry norms for FPIs willing to invest in the Indian markets as part of its effort to easing direct registration for such investors and avoid participatory notes (P-notes) route. Also, it had decided to ease some rules, including expanding the eligible jurisdictions for registration by including countries with diplomatic tie-ups with India.

Besides, the markets regulator had approved a proposal to rationalise 'fit and proper' criteria for FPIs as well as simplify broad-based requirements for such investors. In a major revamp, SEBI in 2014 had released norms that had clubbed different categories of foreign investors into a new class called FPIs. Under the regime, FPIs have been divided into three categories as per their risk profile and the KYC (know your client) requirements, while other registration procedures have been made simpler for them.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10172.40, up by 41.75 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 10139.65 and 10205.50. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HPCL up by 3.39%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 3.11%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.01%, Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 2.53% and Axis Bank up by 2.09%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 2.91%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.49%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.21%, HCL Tech. down by 0.86% and ONGC down by 0.73% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 4.73 points or 0.25% to 1,864.64, Shanghai Composite added 13.5 points or 0.43% to 3,147.22, KOSPI Index rose 14.98 points or 0.61% to 2,452.06, Jakarta Composite surged 33.82 points or 0.55% to 6,233.99, Taiwan Weighted was up by 146.74 points or 1.35% to 10,986.79, Hang Seng increased 248.26 points or 0.81% to 30,797.03 and Nikkei 225 inched up 551.22 points or 2.65% to 21,317.32.