Markets hover near day’s high

Key Indian benchmark indices continued upward rally and were hovering near their intraday high points in late afternoon session, aided by firm opening in European markets. The Sensex and Nifty were gaining more than 200 and 50 points respectively, while Consumer Durables index remained top gainer on the BSE among all the sectoral indices. Traders took encouragement with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the Indian economy, which saw temporary disruptions caused by demonetisation and the roll-out of the goods and services tax (GST) over the past two years, will see consolidation in the current fiscal. Jaitley also said reforms such as GST, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and new income tax regulations are contributing to a better investment climate. The street remained cheerful, as the United Nations (UN) in its latest report ‘the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2018’ said that Indian economy is likely to accelerate from 6.7% in 2017 to 7.2% in 2018 and 7.4% in 2019. The report also indicated that the country’s outlook remains largely positive with robust private consumption, public investment and ongoing structural reforms. Some support also came with the Reserve Bank of India’s latest report stating that the country's foreign exchange reserves hit a life-time high of $424.361 billion after rising by $1.828 billion in the week to March 30, helped by rise in foreign currency assets. Moreover, firm broader indices along with gains led by industry majors like Axis Bank, Indusind Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra, helped the indices to continue the rally in late noon deals.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, even as US President Donald Trump and Chinese state media ramped up their rhetoric on trade ahead of President Xi Jinping's keynote speech Tuesday at the Boao Forum for Asia. Asian markets were also trading in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) traded higher after the company received purchase order of Rs 1,081 crore from Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) for the prestigious engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for Common Services System, Structure & Components (SSC) package and allied civil works of Unit - 3 and 4 of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project at Tirunelveli District in Tamil Nadu.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33829.06, up by 202.09 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 33578.91 and 33844.54. 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 0.20%, while Small cap index was up by 0.37%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.80%, Oil & Gas up by 1.64%, Energy up by 1.16%, FMCG up by 1.04% and Bankex up by 1.03%, while TECK down by 0.90%, IT down by 0.83%, Telecom down by 0.47% and Healthcare down by 0.18% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 3.61%, Indusind Bank up by 2.24%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.07%, ITC up by 1.75% and Asian Paints up by 1.48%. On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.65%, Infosys down by 1.48%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.45%, Tata Motors down by 1.20% and TCS down by 0.63% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the United Nations (UN) in its latest report ‘the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2018’ has said that Indian economy is likely to accelerate from 6.7 per cent in 2017 to 7.2 per cent in 2018 and 7.4 per cent in 2019. The report also indicated that the country’s outlook remains largely positive with robust private consumption, public investment and ongoing structural reforms.

The report noted that some South Asian economies, notably India, are implementing tax reforms to strengthen their tax revenues, but further efforts are needed to significantly improve the capacity to implement counter-cyclical policies across the region. It also highlighted the India’s intensifying policy efforts to attract FDI. However, it said that the anaemic performance of private investment remains a key macroeconomic concern for the country. It found that the share of Gross fixed capital formation in GDP got decreased to less than 30% in 2017 from about 40% in 2010, on the back of subdued credit growth, low capacity utilization in some industrial sectors and balance sheet problems in the banking and corporate sectors and in view of this, it expressed need of vigorous public investment to boost overall investment growth.

On monetary policy front, UN is expecting some degree of uncertainty over the monetary policy stance in India and added that subdued inflation and good monsoon season offers scope for additional monetary easing. Besides, the report said that strong demand for oil is expected from the world’s three largest energy consumers - China, India and the United States.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10392.00, up by 60.40 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 10328.50 and 10397.70. There were 32 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HPCL up by 4.08%, BPCL up by 3.96%, Axis Bank up by 3.94%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 3.47% and Hindalco up by 3.15%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 2.12%, Lupin down by 1.61%, Tata Motors down by 1.46%, Infosys down by 1.40% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.38% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in green; Shanghai Composite increased 7.18 points or 0.23% to 3,138.29, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 9.04 points or 0.49% to 1,846.05, KOSPI Index increased 14.5 points or 0.6% to 2,444.08, Jakarta Composite increased 49.9 points or 0.81% to 6,224.95, Taiwan Weighted increased 72 points or 0.67% to 10,893.53, Nikkei 225 increased 110.74 points or 0.51% to 21,678.26 and Hang Seng increased 384.64 points or 1.29% to 30,229.58.

All European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 14.72 points or 0.2% to 7,198.36, France’s CAC increased 25.98 points or 0.49% to 5,284.22 and Germany’s DAX increased 110.63 points or 0.9% to 12,351.90.