Benchmarks trade in green in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made a positive start and are trading in green terrain in early deals on Thursday. Sentiments remained upbeat on report that India’s global trade increased by 16.32 percent to $767.9 billion in 2017-18, according to the Commerce Department data. In 2016-17, the trade stood at $660.2 billion. Traders also got some support with report that Indian economy is expected to witness a cyclical recovery driven by investments as well as consumption, and the average GDP growth is expected to rise to 7.8 per cent in the first half of this year. Meanwhile, India has inked a loan agreement of $125 million with World Bank’s investment arm to fund ‘Innovate in India for Inclusiveness’ project. However, gains remained capped on private report stating that Reserve Bank of India is expected to hike key policy rates by 25 basis points in June, largely on account of sharp increase in crude oil prices over the last few months.

On the global front, Asian markets are exhibiting mixed trend in early deals as gains in technology shares were offset by declines in financials. The US markets ended mostly in green on Wednesday, as traders reacted positively to some of the latest earnings news, though gains remained capped on account of uncertainty about the outlook for the markets amid a continued increase in U.S. treasury yields.

Back home, banking sector stocks remained in focus on report that Banks’ credit rose 11.52 percent year-on-year to Rs 84,78,459 crore in the fortnight ended April 13. In the same period ended April 14, 2017, banks advances were at Rs 76,01,970 crore. In scrip specific statement, Siemens surged on bagging contract from Nepal Electricity Authority and Shah Alloys touched the roof on entering into settlement agreement with ARCIL.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34582.87, up by 81.60 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 34522.31 and 34591.41. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.12%, while Small cap index was up by 0.27%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.48%, Energy up by 0.65%, Metal up by 0.57%, Healthcare up by 0.46% and IT up by 0.42%, while Telecom down by 1.16%, PSU down by 0.22%, Power down by 0.18%, Utilities down by 0.13% and Consumer Durables was down by 0.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 1.48%, Sun Pharma up by 1.17%, TCS up by 0.75%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.71% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.71%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.62%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.10%, Axis Bank down by 1.08%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.88% and NTPC down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s global trade grew by 16.32 percent to $767.9 billion in the fiscal year 2017-18, as compared to trade of $660.2 billion in the year 2016-17. As per the Commerce Department’s latest data, the country’s bilateral trade with Latin American countries (LAC) including Bolivia, Peru, Chile and Brazil has recorded healthy growth in 2017-18.

According to the data, India’s total trade with LAC increased 19.62 percent to $29.33 billion in 2017-18 from $24.52 billion in the previous fiscal. In LAC region, Bolivia has emerged as a major trade partner of India with bilateral trade registering a growth of 205 percent to $772.44 million in 2017-18 from $253 million in 2016-17.

As per the provisional numbers, two-way commerce with Brazil has increased to $8.56 billion in the fiscal year 2017-18 from $6.51 billion in 2016-17. Besides, bilateral trade with Chile grew to $2.85 billion in 2017-18 from $1.90 billion in the previous fiscal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10587.90, up by 17.35 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 10572.70 and 10593.60. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.59%, Reliance Industries up by 1.31%, Sun Pharma up by 1.27%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.19% and Asian Paints up by 0.88%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.62%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.86%, BPCL down by 1.50%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.19% and Axis Bank down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 5.7 points or 0.31% to 1,857.63, KOSPI Index surged 32.45 points or 1.33% to 2,481.26 and Nikkei 225 up by 121.32 points or 0.55% to 22,336.64.

On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 213.24 points or 0.7% to 30,114.91, Jakarta Composite declined 99.35 points or 1.63% to 5,980.50, Taiwan Weighted dropped 42.88 points or 0.41% to 10,517.09 and Shanghai Composite down by 28.76 points or 0.92% to 3,089.21.