Sensex, Nifty continue to trade higher; Metal shines

Key Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade higher in late afternoon session, with the Sensex rising more than 50 points, on the back of firm opening in European markets. Besides, the metal index remained the top gainer with the gains of almost 5%, followed by Basic Materials and IT. Further, the major industry gainers such as Tata Steel, Yes Bank and Bharti Airtel, were driving the momentum on the street. The domestic sentiments were positive with a private report that India will claim the top spot among the world's fastest-growing major economies this year. Though, the report noted that rising trade tensions between the United States and China may restrain that growth. Traders remained optimistic, as International Monetary Fund (IMF) Deputy Director Abdel Senhadji praised Indian government’s efforts to lower debt, saying that the country has relatively high debt to GDP ratio at 70 per cent of the GDP in 2017 but the government is trying to bring it down over the medium term with the right policies. Some support also came after Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu promised exporters of taking up the Goods and Service Tax (GST) refund issue with the Finance Ministry.  However, gains were limited, amid anxiety with SBI Research’s report which pegged the cash shortfall in the system at a whopping Rs 70,000 crore, which is a third of the monthly withdrawals at ATMs, even as government and Reserve Bank have asserted that there is no currency shortage.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, with dealers awaiting key retail sales data in Britain. Asian markets were also trading in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, Merck traded jubilantly after the company signed an agreement to sell its global consumer health business to Procter & Gamble (P&G) for around euro 3.4 billion in cash, or around $4.2 billion at current exchange rates.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34404.14, up by 72.46 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 34358.91 and 34478.82. There were 16 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.53%, while Small cap index was up by 0.42%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 4.64%, Basic Materials up by 2.90%, IT up by 0.89%, Capital Goods up by 0.84% and Realty was up by 0.84%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.53%, Consumer Durables down by 0.93%, Energy down by 0.78%, PSU down by 0.48% and Bankex was down by 0.16% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 3.44%, Yes Bank up by 2.34%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.88%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.41% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.48%, Axis Bank down by 1.23%, Coal India down by 0.74%, HDFC down by 0.66% and Sun Pharma down by 0.63% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Deputy Director Abdel Senhadji has praised Indian government’s efforts to lower debt, saying that the country has relatively high debt to GDP ratio at 70 per cent of the GDP in 2017 but the government is trying to bring it down over the medium term with the right policies.

The IMF official further listed India’s various targets such as federal deficit of three percent over the medium term and a debt ratio of 40 per cent over the medium term at the federal level, which corresponds to about 60 per cent at the general government level. Besides, he said that these targets are appropriate.

On the global front, Director of IMF Fiscal Affairs Department Vitor Gaspar noted that public debt is currently at historic highs in advanced and emerging market economies and average debt-to-GDP ratios, at more than 105 per cent of GDP in advanced economies, are at levels not seen since World War II. He further advised countries to avoid policies that increase economic fluctuations and also suggested to build strong public finances in good times in order to tackle looming risks.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10560.15, up by 33.95 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 10546.20 and 10568.90. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 7.99%, Vedanta up by 7.15%, Tata Steel up by 3.59%, Ultratech Cement up by 3.33% and Yes Bank up by 2.41%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 6.60%, HPCL down by 5.74%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 4.33%, Titan down by 2.64% and Indusind Bank down by 1.53% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 6.12 points or 0.25% to 2,486.10, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI soared 8.89 points or 0.47% to 1,888.21, Jakarta Composite was up by 25.32 points or 0.4% to 6,345.32, Shanghai Composite added 25.98 points or 0.84% to 3,117.38, Nikkei 225 rose 32.98 points or 0.15% to 22,191.18, Taiwan Weighted surged 123.33 points or 1.14% to 10,971.22 and Hang Seng gained by 424.19 points or 1.4% to 30,708.44

European Markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC rose 11.23 points or 0.21% to 5,391.40 and UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 18.02 points or 0.25% to 7,335.36. On the flip side, Germany’s DAX decreased 4.11 points or 0.03% to 12,586.72.