Equity benchmarks trade in fine fettle

 
The Indian equity benchmarks are trading in fine fettle in late morning session, with Sensex and Nifty garnering gains of over quarter a percent. The investors remained optimistic on report stating that moderate export growth of 10% last financial year also led to a 45% jump in trade deficit at $157 billion in 2017-18 against $108 billion. Traders took note of RBI Governor Urjit Patel’s statement that the country’s growth is expected to accelerate next fiscal, as real GDP growth was moderated to 6.6% from 7.1% a year ago, there was a strong rebound in the second half of the year on the back of a turnaround in investment demand. Traders shrugged off a private report stating that Merchandise exports hit a three-year high in 2017-18 but slowing growth in shipments of manufacturing goods and raw materials, collateral impact of a global trade war, unfavourable base effect for roughly half the year and temporary discomfort to traders due to last month’s ban on the widely-used letters of undertakings (LoUs) pose risks to export growth in the current fiscal year.

All Asian markets were trading in red, as investors kept an eye on rising U.S. Treasury yields and digested declines in technology stocks seen stateside. Back home, in the scrip specific developments, Phoenix Mills gained with ISMDPL acquiring land in Bengaluru for Rs 650 crore and Shilpa Medicare soared on receiving EU-GMP certification for two API manufacturing plants located at Raichur, Karnataka and Formulation Facility located at Jadcherla, Telangana. Besides, NHPC gained on inking MoU to generate 25.4 billion units of electricity and revenue of Rs 8,000 crore in 2018-19 fiscal.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34505.52, up by 89.94 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 34259.27 and 34578.92. There were 15 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.29%, while Small cap index was up by 0.61%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.51%, IT up by 1.45%, TECK up by 1.21%, Telecom up by 0.83% and Energy was up by 0.62%, while Metal down by 0.64%, FMCG down by 0.12%, Utilities down by 0.09% and Power was down by 0.02% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 2.74%, Indusind Bank up by 2.34%, Yes Bank up by 2.32%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.82% and Reliance Industries was up by 1.25%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.21%, Wipro down by 1.12%, Coal India down by 0.98%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.96% and Hindustan Unilever was down by 0.90% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have pulled out nearly Rs 8,000 crore from the Indian stock market so far in the month of April 2018, mainly due to considerable volatility in global markets on account of the ongoing trade negotiations and firming up of bond yields.

According to the latest data available with the depositories, during April 2-10, 2018 period, the FPIs withdrew a net amount of Rs 4,181 crore from equities another Rs 3,586 crore from the debt.

In March 2018, there was an inflow of Rs 11,654 crore in equities and an outflow of more than Rs 9,000 crore from the debt markets.  In February, FPIs had pulled out Rs 11,674 from the country’s capital markets (equity and debt).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10601.35, up by 37.30 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 10514.95 and 10619.90. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 2.87%, HCL Tech up by 2.77%, TCS up by 2.77%, Indusind Bank up by 2.44% and Yes Bank was up by 2.28%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.15%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.14%, Hindalco down by 1.11%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.92% and Wipro was down by 0.92% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in red, Hang Seng losses 104.15 points or 0.34% to 30,314.18, Nikkei 225 slipped 91.13 points or 0.41% to 22,071.11, Taiwan Weighted declined 82.25 points or 0.76% to 10,697.13, Jakarta Composite fell 26.45 points or 0.42% to 6,311.24, Shanghai Composite dreopped 11.37 points or 0.37% to 3,060.18, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI losses 5.35 points or 0.28% to 1,882.40 and KOSPI Index was down by 5.28 points or 0.21% to 2,471.05.