Bourses maintain upbeat mood in early afternoon deals

Indian equity indices maintained their upbeat mood in early afternoon session, owing to favorable macro-economic data. India’s factory output grew at a robust 7.1% in February while retail inflation decelerated for the fourth consecutive month to 4.28% in March, leading to expectation that the Indian economy may be on a sustained recovery path. The markets also drew some solace with report that the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is expecting India’s gross domestic product (GDP) to grow at 7.3-7.7 per cent during the 2018-19 financial year. This is based on strengthening demand in the rural economy, including agriculture and non-farm activities, as well as better global growth climate. Besides, value-buying witnessed in Metal, Basic Materials, Realty and banking stocks, too provided support to the major indices. The broader markets were too broadly in line with the larger benchmark indices. In scrip specific development, Premier Explosives surged by over 2% on tying up with Nexter  for manufacturing Bi-Modular Charge Systems in order to respond to the needs of the Indian Ministry of Defence.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as caution crept in ahead of the US earnings season and as investors weighed the possible effect on global growth from a tariff spat between the US and China. Besides, China reported a surprise monthly trade deficit in March, the first time in 13 months, as exports dropped while import growth accelerated due to robust domestic demand. China's trade balance swung to a deficit of $4.98 billion from a $33.7 billion surplus in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34293.79, up by 192.66 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 34154.94 and 34300.56. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.88%, while Small cap index was up by 0.75%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.47%, Basic Materials up by 1.11%, Realty up by 1.03%, Bankex up by 0.91% and Healthcare up by 0.90%, while Capital Goods down by 0.11% and FMCG down by 0.02% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 3.21%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.87%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.52%, Wipro up by 1.46% and ICICI Bank up by 1.34%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.48%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.41% and SBI down by 0.06% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has said that India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow in the range of 7.3-7.7 percent during the financial year 2018-19, on the back of strengthening demand in the rural economy, including agriculture and non-farm activities, as well as better global growth climate.

Sector-wise, CII projected 2.5-3.5 percent growth for the agriculture sector, 7.2-7.5 percent for the industrial sector and 8.4-8.7 percent for the services sector, with ‘construction’ and ‘trade and repairs’ to lead. CII President Rakesh Bharti Mittal has noted that there are some macro challenges like increasing oil prices, but that would be more than compensated by improving industrial performance. 

Rakesh Bharti Mittal believed that the rural consumption will go up and that will help the industry in getting back investments into the manufacturing sector, and, as a whole, the manufacturing activities could go up to 7.2-7.5 percent. Though, he pointed out that the country's economic outlook was robust, risk factors remained like quality of public finances which may have an adverse impact on private investment, investment rate below 30 percent, rise in crude oil prices and rising international protectionism.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10514.30, up by 55.65 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 10475.80 and 10516.55. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 3.26%, Hindalco up by 2.15%, Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 2.06%, Vedanta up by 1.89% and Bharti Infratel up by 1.85%. On the flip side, HCL Tech. down by 1.29%, BPCL down by 1.02%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.47%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.46% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.43% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 27.87 points or 0.09% to 30,803.41, Shanghai Composite shed 23.11 points or 0.73% to 3,157.04, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 5.6 points or 0.3% to 1,868.02 and Jakarta Composite dipped 1.87 points or 0.03% to 6,308.93.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted increased 10.1 points or 0.09% to 10,965.39, KOSPI Index was up by 12.36 points or 0.51% to 2,455.07 and Nikkei 225 added 118.46 points or 0.55% to 21,778.74.