Sensex, Nifty back in green; Power stocks gain most

Indian equity benchmarks erased all of their losses to back in green terrain in late afternoon session, with the Sensex gaining more than 50 points, on the back of firm opening in European markets. Heavy buying in Power, Realty and FMCG stocks along with gains led by major industry leaders such as Power Grid Corporation, NTPC and Hindustan Unilever, also helped the key indices to wipe out losses. The market participants took support with the World Bank’s latest report forecasting that India’s economic growth will accelerate to 7.3% in the year 2018 from 6.7% in 2017. It added that the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate will increase further to 7.5% in the following two years - 2019 and 2020. Some support also came after India Meteorological Department (IMD), the country’s national weather forecaster, said that India would receive ‘normal’ monsoon for the third straight year. It noted that seasonal monsoon rainfall is likely to be 97 percent of the long period average (LPA) in 2018, with a margin error of plus or minus 5 percent. Besides, the broader markets continued their trade in green territory in late noon deals with marginal gains. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Niti Aayog to familiarise all ministries with the high-end technology and explain how it can be leveraged to address the country’s socio-economic problems.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as Syria tensions eased and investor focus shifted to corporate earnings. However, Asian markets were trading in red. Back home, in scrip specific development, Ashoka Buildcon was trading higher after the company received Letters of Intention (LoIs) from Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam (DVVNL) for two electrification work projects.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34366.14, up by 60.71 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 34229.83 and 34413.83. There were 15 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.13%, while Small cap index was up by 0.25%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.16%, Realty up by 1.09%, FMCG up by 0.96%, Utilities up by 0.92% and Consumer Durables up by 0.82%, while Capital Goods down by 0.41%, IT down by 0.36%, TECK down by 0.36%, Industrials down by 0.25% and Healthcare down by 0.23% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid Corporation up by 2.91%, NTPC up by 1.99%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.67%, ICICI Bank up by 1.25% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.19%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 1.67%, Axis Bank down by 1.48%, Sun Pharma down by 1.37%, Infosys down by 0.94% and Adani Ports & SEZ down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in the backdrop of public criticism mounted by both - the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and finance ministry - against the other after PNB scam, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has expressed need for close coordination between these two institutions and added that the fiscal stance would be loosen if the central bank tightens monetary policy to follow its duty.

Kumar pointed out to the need of a macro-economic team in the country to work together and added that Niti Aayog, the finance ministry and RBI, along with other economic policy makers, can be a part of this team which works in close coordination and express hopes that working this way will result into faster progress.

Niti Aayog Vice Chairman has soothed worries over fiscal deficit, saying that the 3.5% fiscal deficit target, which deviates from the original fiscal consolidation road map, is not very big and affirmed that India is better placed on other macro-economic indicators like inflation, forex reserves and the current account gap. He also expressed confident that economic growth will touch 7.5% in 2018-19, even as other bodies like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank peg it to come up to 7.2%.

Besides, Kumar said that the panel is preparing a growth road map for the country till 2022, wherein the GDP growth average for the five-year period has to touch 8.5% and highlighted that India has everything going in its favour in order to accelerate growth.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10541.95, up by 13.60 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 10495.65 and 10557.55. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid Corporation up by 2.81%, NTPC up by 1.87%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.70%, Titan up by 1.58% and Lupin up by 1.55%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 2.00%, Axis Bank down by 1.65%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.62%, Sun Pharma down by 1.42% and Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 1.37% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 252.84 points or 0.83% to 30,062.75, Taiwan Weighted decreased 144.1 points or 1.32% to 10,810.45, Shanghai Composite decreased 43.85 points or 1.41% to 3,066.80, Jakarta Composite decreased 16.41 points or 0.26% to 6,270.34 and KOSPI Index decreased 3.72 points or 0.15% to 2,453.77. On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.51 points or 0.03% to 1,879.27 and Nikkei 225 increased 12.06 points or 0.06% to 21,847.59.

European Markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC increased 17.39 points or 0.33% to 5,330.35 and Germany’s DAX increased 82.96 points or 0.67% to 12,474.37. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 2.55 points or 0.04% to 7,195.65.