Markets extend gains in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks extended their gains in late morning session amid firm cues from Asian markets. Domestic sentiments remained upbeat with a report stating that India recorded the biggest rise of 73% in investment proposals into France among emerging economies in 2017, as there were 19 Indian foreign investment projects in France. Moreover, India was also among the key markets that drive French exports in Asia along with China and South Korea. Investors also took some support from the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) statement that India’s GDP growth will accelerate in the current and next fiscal years as structural reforms raise potential output. IMF has maintained its forecast for India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 7.4% for 2018 and 7.8% for 2019. Traders shrugged off a report stating that cash shortage has affected routines in Gujarat’s agriculture sector as most of the transactions there are done in cash. Due to currency shortage, farmers are not getting payment for their produce in APMCs.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as investors’ confidence stayed firm on the back of Wall Street’s advance following strong earnings. Back on the domestic turf, in scrip specific developments, Lloyds Metals gained on receiving acknowledgement from Commerce Ministry. Besides, SeQuent Scientific advanced on acquiring Bremer Pharma in Germany.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34465.30, up by 70.24 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 34364.79 and 34505.19. There were 19 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.21%, while Small cap index was up by 0.21%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.51%, Telecom up by 0.84%, Realty up by 0.47%, Basic Materials up by 0.24% and Utilities was up by 0.24%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.37%, Energy down by 0.37%, Consumer Durables down by 0.34%, IT down by 0.24% and PSU was down by 0.21% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 2.84%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.49%, Yes Bank up by 1.25%, Wipro up by 1.23% and ONGC was up by 0.53%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 0.99%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.93%, Axis Bank down by 0.74%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.45% and SBI was down by 0.36% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that his ministry fixed the national highways project award target of 20,000 kilometres (km) for the financial year 2018-19. He noted that this is about 25 percent more than the 17,055 km awarded in the preceding year, of which, 8,652 km was awarded by the ministry, 7,397 by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and 1,006 km by the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL).

The Minister has stated that the construction targets for the ongoing financial year have been set at 16,420 km, as compared to 9,829 km length of national highways were constructed during 2017-18. Of total construction target, 9700 km will be constructed by MoRTH, 6000 km by NHAI and 720 km by NHIDCL. He noted that in comparison. Besides, he mentioned that per day construction target has been set at 45 km for the current year, as against the achieved target of 27 km per day during 2017-18.

Gadkari further said that his ministry is making all-out efforts for improving and strengthening the highways network in the country. He also said that this year, the focus would be more on construction, but the award would be more than last year. In addition, he said that there will also be focus on completing the detailed project reports (DPRs) of all the ‘in-principle’ declared NHs. He added that yearly targets will be divided into quarterly targets so that there is no pressure at the end of the year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10565.40, up by 16.70 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 10539.55 and 10579.40. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ITC up by 3.05%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.27%, Cipla up by 1.55%, Wipro up by 1.53% and GAIL India was up by 1.44%. On the flip side, HPCL down by 2.56%, HCL Tech down by 1.61%, BPCL down by 1.38%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.38% and Indian Oil Corporation was down by 1.11% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite gained 19.97 points or 0.32% to 6,305.73, Shanghai Composite surged 20.17 points or 0.66% to 3,086.96, KOSPI Index strengthened 21.53 points or 0.88% to 2,475.30, Taiwan Weighted rose by 37.44 points or 0.35% to 10,847.89, Hang Seng soared 265.17 points or 0.88% to 30,327.92 and Nikkei 225 was up by 331.68 points or 1.52% to 22,179.27.

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 3.75 points or 0.2% to 1,876.74.