Local bourses hold gains in early afternoon deals

Indian equity benchmarks held their gains in early afternoon session, on sustained buying by domestic institutional investors despite weakness in global peers. Sentiments on the street remained positive with the World Bank’s statement that India retained the top position as recipient of remittances with its diaspora sending about $69 billion back home last year. Remittances to India picked up sharply by 9.9 per cent, reversing the previous year’s dip, but were still short of $70.4 billion received in 2014. The markets also drew some solace with the report highlighting that goods and services tax (GST) collections for March exceeded Rs 96,000 crore by April 23, the largest mop-up for any month since the comprehensive indirect tax’s launch in July last year. Moreover, encouraging earnings by blue-chip companies too supported the market. However, further gains got restricted with a report that India’s bad loans are fifth highest in the world and surged dramatically after March 2015. In the scrip specific development, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories was up by around one and half percent on receiving the Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for its API Mirfield Plant, United Kingdom (UK).

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, with a decline in tech shares and rising US bond yields weighed on investor sentiment. Rising bond yields have triggered concerns the US Federal Reserve will accelerate its pace of interest rate hikes. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34581.78, up by 131.01 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 34465.49 and 34612.43. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.27%, while Small cap index was up by 0.33%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.56%, Healthcare up by 1.07%, Oil & Gas up by 0.92%, Realty up by 0.48% and Bankex up by 0.44%, while Metal down by 2.39%, IT down by 1.12%, TECK down by 1.06%, Telecom down by 1.01% and Basic Materials down by 0.91% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 3.71%, Reliance Industries up by 2.33%, ICICI Bank up by 2.02%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.78% and Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.48%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 2.14%, Tata Steel down by 1.66%, Infosys down by 1.31%, TCS down by 1.09% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.07% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Export Promotion Council for EOUs and SEZs (EPCES) has said that exports from special economic zones (SEZs) jumped by 15 percent to Rs 5.52 lakh crore during the financial year 2018. It also said that in 2017-18, goods export from these zones stood at Rs 2.74 lakh crore, while shipments of services aggregated to Rs 2.78 lakh crore.

The council has indicated that the combined export from SEZs in India of merchandise and software was worth Rs 5.51 lakh crore as against Rs 4.68 lakh crore in the last year. It pointed out that the sector has recorded healthy growth despite the challenges faced such as minimum alternate tax, dividend distribution tax. It added that the major export destinations include the United Arab Emirates, the US, the UK, Australia and Singapore.

Vinay Sharma, officiating chairman of EPCES, has said that SEZs for any foreign investor looking for 500 acres or even more land to set up plant, only an SEZ can allot the land quickly without any encumbrances, litigations, or disruptions.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10598.65, up by 13.95 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 10573.20 and 10609.85. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 3.71%, Reliance Industries up by 2.30%, ICICI Bank up by 1.99%, Lupin up by 1.87% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 8.20%, Vedanta down by 3.18%, Wipro down by 2.40%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.04% and Tata Steel down by 1.80% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted decreased 117.63 points or 1.1% to 10,579.50, Jakarta Composite dipped 74.76 points or 1.19% to 6,233.38, KOSPI Index was down by 9.97 points or 0.4% to 2,464.14 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI shed 9.76 points or 0.52% to 1,870.60.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 58.6 points or 1.91% to 3,126.61, Nikkei 225 was up by 190.08 points or 0.86% to 22,278.12 and Hang Seng added 291.57 points or 0.96% to 30,545.97.