Bourses maintain upbeat mood in early afternoon deals

Indian equity indices maintained their upbeat mood in early afternoon session, as buying momentum in the equities persisted. Traders remained in jubilant mood with report that the trade deficit between India and the US dropped by almost six per cent in 2017 compared to the previous year, even as it continued to harp on issues such as market access and high tariffs on several American products being imported into India. Some optimism also spread among the investors with NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant’s statement that the government has been able to save Rs 83,000 crore through direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme. He said that advantages of digitization are so enormous in making India a progressive, effective society. Moreover, firm trend in other Asian markets too helped to lift sentiments. Broader indices too equally participated in the gains, with both mid cap and small cap indices trading up by over 1.50%. Meanwhile, the street is eyeing the RBI’s monetary policy outcome, scheduled later in the day. In scrip specific development, Ashoka Buildcon was up by over 1% on emerging as the lowest bidder for two electrification works projects in Uttar Pradesh, at the Financial Bid opening meeting held at Agra.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, as world equities recovered from a selloff triggered by escalating Sino-US trade tensions, with investors hoping a full-blown trade war between the world's two biggest economies can be averted. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33473.19, up by 454.12 points or 1.38% after trading in a range of 33267.86 and 33499.32. There were 31 stocks advancing on the index, while no losing stocks on BSE.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.51%, while Small cap index was up by 1.59%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 3.72%, Basic Materials up by 2.68%, Realty up by 2.45%, Industrials up by 2.04% and Capital Goods up by 1.89%, while there were no losers on BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 4.37%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 4.27%, Tata Steel up by 3.42%, ICICI Bank up by 2.59% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.57%.

Meanwhile, in a main achievement, India has left Japan behind to become the second largest producer of crude steel globally in February 2018. According to the Steel Users Federation of India (SUFI), presently, China is the world’s largest producer of crude steel, accounting for more than 50 percent of the production. It highlighted that India’s crude steel production has grown by 4.4 percent to 93.11 million tonnes (MT) in the period April 2017 to February 2018 as compared with April 2016 to February 2017.

The federation has noted that in 2015, India overtook the United States (US) to become the world’s third largest steel producer. SUFI president Nikunj Turakhia has said that growth in steel production is due to the right policies undertaken by the Modi government. He also pointed out that the government has taken a series of steps to curb imports, push local demand with initiatives like ‘Make in India’, implementation of the GST and infrastructure projects, to encourage the domestic market.

Turakhia further stated that the steel ministry is working proactively to lay down the road map to achieve 300 million tons by the year 2030. He also noted that quick resolution of various big-ticket steel mills under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and the National Company Law Tribunal is expected to further hasten the process of achieving higher capacity utilization. According to the World Steel Association, India produced 8.4 MT of crude steel in February 2018, up 3.4 percent over February 2017.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10277.00, up by 148.60 points or 1.47% after trading in a range of 10227.45 and 10286.25. There were 46 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 5.38%, Vedanta up by 4.54%, Tata Motors up by 4.42%, Tata Steel up by 3.42% and Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 3.11%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 0.50%, Cipla down by 0.34% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.19% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 18.62 points or 1.03% to 1,834.56, Jakarta Composite added 23.9 points or 0.39% to 6,180.99, KOSPI Index surged 29.46 points or 1.22% to 2,437.52 and Nikkei 225 was up by 325.87 points or 1.53% to 21,645.42.