Equity benchmarks trade in fine fettle in late morning session

The domestic equity benchmarks were trading in fine fettle in late morning session as traders’ sentiments remained optimistic with a report highlighting that Government has inked a loan agreement of $125 million with World Bank’s investment arm to fund ‘Innovate in India for Inclusiveness’ project. The objective of the project is to nurture indigenous innovation, foster local product development and accelerate commercialisation process. Sentiments also remained up-beat with a report stating that India’s global trade increased by 16.32 per cent to $767.9 billion in 2017-18, in 2016-17, the trade stood at $660.2 billion. Traders took note of a report which stated that Government has increased the minimum support price (MSP) of raw jute by Rs 200 per quintal to Rs 3,700 per quintal for the 2018-19 crop season. The MSP would yield returns of 63.2 per cent over the weighted average A2 + FL (covers actual paid-out costs plus an imputed value of unpaid family labour) cost of production.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed. Traders were taking note of the rising interest rates for US Treasury’s with the yield on the 10-year note hovering at a four-year high as it climbed to 3.03 percent from 3 percent. Back home, in the scrip specific developments, Elecon Engineering gained on bagging order worth Rs 54.43 crore from NTPC for supply of three Stacker cum Reclaimer machines at its Kudgi & Darlipalli sites. Besides, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services soared on getting nod to raise funds up to Rs 40,000 crore.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34585.32, up by 84.05 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 34522.31 and 34603.27. There were 15 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index slipped 0.13%, while Small cap index was up by 0.24%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.74%, Energy up by 0.51%, FMCG up by 0.41%, IT up by 0.34% and Auto was up by 0.28%, while Telecom down by 1.98%, PSU down by 0.49%, Utilities down by 0.45%, Oil & Gas down by 0.42% and Power was down by 0.34% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.05%, Tata Motors up by 2.04%, Reliance Industries up by 1.51%, TCS up by 1.08% and Sun Pharma was up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 2.89%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.41%, Axis Bank down by 1.16%, NTPC down by 0.93% and ONGC was down by 0.89% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, retirement fund body Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has indicated that the pace of job creation in non-farm sectors slowed down in the month of February 2018, as new member registrations with the EPFO for its various schemes fell to a four-month low of 4,72,075 during the month. According to the monthly data released by EPFO, in January 2018, number of all non-zero contributors or new members registered with EPFO stood at 6,04,557, while it got 5,57,633 new registrants in December 2017.

Data further showed that the number of all non-zero contributors registered with the EPFO was 647,019 in November, 3,93,904 in October and 4,35,283 in September last year. The EPFO has said that these estimates may include temporary employees whose contributions may not be continuous for the entire year. It also said that all establishments across the country with 20 or more employees whose basic wages are up to Rs 15,000 are required to be mandatorily covered under the social security schemes run by the EPFO.

The EPFO manages social security funds of workers in the organised and the semi-organised sector and it has 60 million members with active contribution at present. The maximum employment of 139,032 was generated in age bracket of 22-25 years in February, 2018 while in January, 2018, the highest number of new registered members were in 18-12 year age bracket.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10581.50, up by 10.95 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 10572.70 and 10596.10. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 2.01%, Hindalco up by 1.62%, Reliance Industries up by 1.54%, TCS up by 1.03% and Sun Pharma was up by 0.87%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 3.93%, Wipro down by 2.89%, BPCL down by 1.54%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.51% and HPCL was down by 1.49% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 5.72 points or 0.31% to 1,857.65, KOSPI Index gained 27.88 points or 1.14% to 2,476.69 and Nikkei 225 was up by 106.68 points or 0.48% to 22,322.00.

On the flip side, Hang Seng declined 250.41 points or 0.83% to 30,077.74, Jakarta Composite slipped 112.74 points or 1.85% to 5,967.11, Taiwan Weighted lost 71.39 points or 0.68% to 10,488.58 and Shanghai Composite was down by 29.29 points or 0.94% to 3,088.69.