Markets at day’s high; Sensex gains over 200 points

India equity benchmarks added gains in late afternoon session to reach at their intraday high points, with Sensex gaining more than 200 points, aided by firm opening in European markets. Besides, heavy buying at Energy, Oil & Gas and Healthcare counters along with gains led by the major industry gainers such as Yes Bank, Reliance Industries and HDFC, boosted the sentiments on the street. Traders continued to take encouragement with the Export Promotion Council for EOUs and SEZs’ (EPCES) statement that exports from special economic zones (SEZs) jumped by 15% 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. Also, optimism remained among the investors as the World Bank in its latest Migration and Development Brief stated that India retained the top position as the largest recipient of remittances, with remittances from overseas Indians increasing nearly 10% in 2017. Some support also came with a report stating that several Thailand-based companies which are operating in India plan to invest around $3 billion in the next three years period in the areas of green and brown field projects including energy, infrastructure and metals. However, the broader markets failed to join rally and were now hovering below neutral lines with marginal losses. Besides, metal stocks lost the shine by declining almost 3%, followed by Basic Materials and IT.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as investors monitored the latest deluge of corporate earnings. However, Asian markets were trading in red. Back home, in scrip specific development, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) gained after the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Haryana Government for setting up a biomethenation plant in Faridabad.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34664.31, up by 213.54 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 34465.49 and 34672.79. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.03%, while Small cap index was down by 0.11%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 2.21%, Oil & Gas up by 1.41%, Healthcare up by 0.64%, Bankex up by 0.55% and Auto up by 0.38%, while Metal down by 2.64%, Basic Materials down by 1.27%, IT down by 1.17%, TECK down by 1.08% and Telecom down by 0.60% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 3.47%, Reliance Industries up by 3.29%, HDFC up by 1.86%, ICICI Bank up by 1.81% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.68%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 2.31%, Tata Steel down by 1.98%, Infosys down by 1.72%, SBI down by 0.89% and TCS down by 0.57% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, highlighting importance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in solving various problems such as gap between rich & poor and climate change, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu has said that MSME will also play a key role in employment generation thus countering jobless growth.

Prabhu highlighted that MSMEs will help in the reduction of Green House Gas emissions, as they are generally closer to markets leading to reduced carbon footprints. He also stressed on the relationship between big enterprises and MSMEs and added that the bigger companies cannot prosper without MSMEs, so there is need to strength linkages between big and small to propel the global economy.

The Minister further noted that new Industrial Policy, which will be announced soon, lays great stress on the role of Self Help Groups (SHGs) and emphasized that MSMEs can take advantage of the Start-up India Program. Besides, he suggested that new networks can be formed among MSMEs of different countries like Africa, Central Asia and Latin America, to promote their ideas at the global level as MSMEs are the crucible of creation of new ideas in the world of business.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10626.40, up by 41.70 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 10569.00 and 10630.25. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 3.63%, Reliance Industries up by 3.32%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.76%, HDFC up by 1.84% and ICICI Bank up by 1.81%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 8.49%, Vedanta down by 3.15%, Wipro down by 2.49%, Tata Steel down by 2.16% and Infosys down by 2.03% 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 decreased 74.33 points or 1.18% to 6,233.81, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 12.16 points or 0.65% to 1,868.20 and KOSPI Index decreased 9.97 points or 0.4% to 2,464.14. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 60.92 points or 1.99% to 3,128.93, Nikkei 225 increased 190.08 points or 0.86% to 22,278.12 and Hang Seng increased 381.84 points or 1.26% to 30,636.24.

All European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 5.23 points or 0.1% to 5,443.78, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 24.48 points or 0.33% to 7,423.35 and Germany’s DAX increased 51.94 points or 0.41% to 12,624.33.