Benchmarks extend gains in morning session

Indian equity benchmarks extended their gains in morning session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The rupee opened higher against the US dollar ahead of RBI’s two-day policy meet that kicks off today. The sentiments were upbeat on private weather forecasting agency report that monsoon rains in India are expected to be average in 2018, raising prospects of higher farm and economic growth in the $2 trillion economy. The report added that monsoon rains are expected to be 100 percent of the long-term average. Separately, with government’s data showing a sharp increase in the number of tax returns filed in fiscal year 2017-18, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has stated that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation and impact of demonetization have resulted into higher formalization of the Indian economy.

Meanwhile, majority of sugar stocks were trading in green on ISMA report that sugar output increased 49% to 28.18 million tonne (MT) so far in 2017-18 marketing year as against 18.88 MT in the year-ago period. While sugar production in Maharashtra increased to 10.12 MT, Uttar Pradesh recorded 9.54 MT output and Karnataka 3.55 MT. Select tea stocks were buzzing on ICRA report that profit margins for bulk tea players, particularly the North Indian producers, are set to improve in FY2018. Firm price trends in North Indian teas from August, 2017 to January, 2018 have supported the margins and debt coverage indicators of most large bulk tea producers based out of the region in FY2018.

Traders were seen buying in Realty, Auto and Industrials stocks, while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables and IT sector stocks. In scrip specific development, ICICI Securities made a weak debut on the exchanges. The broking subsidiary of ICICI Bank raised Rs 3,515 crore at the issue price of Rs 520 per share through initial public offering last week. The public issue closed on March 26 after three days of bidding in a price band of Rs 519-520. Zensar Technologies was trading in green as the technology services company bagged a four-year, multi-million dollar contract from the City of San Diego for network services.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed. China’s services sector growth eased to a four-month low in March as new business and employment grew at a slower rate, pointing to cooling demand in a sector Beijing is counting on to maintain economic growth. The Caixin/Markit services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 52.3 in March, from February's 54.2. Back home, the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty were trading above the psychological 33,400 and 10,250 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1811:464, while 80 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33486.41, up by 115.78 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 33353.09 and 33501.57. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.77%, while Small cap index was up by 1.17%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.28%, Auto up by 1.82%, Industrials up by 1.27%, Basic Materials up by 0.97% and Metal up by 0.96%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.33%, Consumer Durables down by 0.16%, IT down by 0.12%, TECK down by 0.10% and Utilities down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 5.43%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 5.09%, Yes Bank up by 2.09%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.59% and Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 1.58%.

On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.09%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.97%, Infosys down by 0.62%, HDFC down by 0.58% and Coal India down by 0.50% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association (IWTMA) has said that India is on its way to achieve the target of 60 gigawatt (GW) of installed wind energy capacity before 2022 deadline, as it has already crossed 34 GW mark. 

IWTMA Chairman Tulsi Tanti has stated that in FY18, the country’s wind industry saw a transition from the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) to the competitive bidding regime, and hence there was a transitory drop in volumes. He also said that the industry is now on high-growth trajectory with a healthy order pipeline. Besides, he noted that there was a clear business visibility of 10-12 GW even before the start of this financial year with announcement and plan of bids by the New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) Ministry. He added that the wind industry is confident of the government's continuous support.

Tanti further said that they are seeing large scale projects of 200 to 300 MW capacity, which brings in advantages of scale at project level, leading to cost optimization there by benefitting working capital of companies. He noted that India looks to achieve the target of 175 GW of installed renewable energy capacities by 2022.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10271.10, up by 26.10 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 10239.55 and 10277.50. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 5.51%, Eicher Motors up by 3.47%, Vedanta up by 2.03%, Yes Bank up by 1.85% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.71%.

On the flip side, HPCL down by 1.70%, GAIL India down by 1.50%, BPCL down by 1.36%, UPL down by 1.04% and NTPC down by 0.94% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng decreased 61.74 points or 0.2% to 30,118.36, KOSPI Index decreased 30.75 points or 1.26% to 2,411.68 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 3.3 points or 0.18% to 1,847.48.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite increased 1.86 points or 0.03% to 6,230.87, Shanghai Composite increased 22.66 points or 0.72% to 3,159.29 and Nikkei 225 increased 37.08 points or 0.17% to 21,329.37.

Taiwan stock exchange is closed on account of National holiday.