Benchmarks make optimistic start on strong global cues

Indian equity benchmarks made an optimistic start and are trading with traction in early deals amid firm global cues. Sentiments remained up-beat with private report stating that India’s economic growth will accelerate to 7.2 per cent in the current fiscal buoyed by manufacturing activity even as rising oil prices and high government debt remain a challenge. The agriculture sector is expected to grow higher than the estimated 2.1 per cent in the current fiscal year on account of positive prospects on Rabi harvest and a normal monsoon. Traders also took some encouragement with NITI Aayog’s statement that 3.53 million (35.3 lakh) new jobs were generated between September 2017 and February this year. The EPFO data shows that from September 2017 to February 2018, 3.1 million (31.10 lakh) new payroll additions were made across all age groups.

Global cues too remained supportive with Asian markets trading mostly in green at this point of time as investors’ concerns over geopolitical risks eased on looming trade talks between the U.S. and China and the leaders of North and South Korea meeting Friday. The US markets ended higher on Thursday, following release of upbeat earnings news from several big-name companies, with shares of Facebook (FB) surging up by 9.1 percent.

Back home, stocks related to gems and jewellery sector remained in focus on report that the gems and jewellery exports have declined by 8.67 percent to Rs 2,64,130.64 crore in financial year 2017-18, mainly due to drop in demand from the UAE. In scrip specific development, Thermax advanced on bagging Rs 279 crore order for captive cogeneration power plant and Phoenix Mills gained on acquiring entire stake in DHSPL.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34958.15, up by 244.55 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 34744.73 and 34998.56. There were 25 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.66%, while Small cap index was up by 0.65%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.77%, Realty up by 1.64%, Bankex up by 1.32%, Capital Goods up by 1.11% and Industrials was up by 0.90%, while IT down by 0.67% and TECK was down by 0.45% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 4.20%, Reliance Industries up by 2.98%, ICICI Bank up by 2.91%, SBI up by 2.10% and Adani Ports up by 2.03%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.92%, Wipro down by 1.03%, HDFC down by 0.64%, HDFC Bank down by 0.39% and ONGC down by 0.11% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, a day after retirement fund body Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) and Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA) released data on job creation, the government think-tank NITI Aayog has said that between September 2017 and February 2018, 3.53 million (35.3 lakh) new jobs were generated. It added that the data for recent months are provisional due to continuous updating of employee records, this could be called a conservative estimate and the actual figures may well be more than this. However, EPFO data showed that during this six-month period 3.1 million (31.10 lakh) new payroll additions were made across all age groups.

Talking about PFRDA data, NITI Aayog said that the New Pension Scheme (NPS) data indicates generation of 420,000 new payrolls during the given period, that too only from Tier-1 account. Besides, the NPS currently manages the corpus of around 5 million (50 lakh) employees in state and central government. It said “We may as well as bid goodbye to the days of analyses based on random sample surveys. Hopefully, this would also end the debate regarding and criticisms about jobless growth in the economy. A more constructive phase of focusing on deriving the most out of this data for furthering development should now begin.”

Highlighting importance of payroll data, the government think-tank stated that India has, for the first time, introduced monthly payroll reporting for the formal sector to facilitate analysis of new and continuing employment, and this data would provide a more firm basis for various analysis and studies of the economy and job creation. Besides, the EPFO, Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) and the PFRDA have released payroll data. It added that the numbers from these three organisations are an eye opener and put an end to all speculations and conjectures regarding job creation in the economy. They also strengthen the efforts made by the government on job creation and formalisation of the economy.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10690.85, up by 73.05 points or 0.69% after trading in a range of 10647.55 and 10701.70. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 4.47%, ICICI Bank up by 3.05%, Reliance Industries up by 2.90%, Eicher Motors up by 2.39% and SBI up by 2.14%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.57%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.20%, Wipro down by 0.98%, HCL Tech down by 0.81% and Cipla down by 0.61% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite rose 2.63 points or 0.04% to 5,911.83, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 8.94 points or 0.48% to 1,861.21, KOSPI Index gained 14.44 points or 0.58% to 2,490.08, Hang Seng jumped 24.2 points or 0.08% to 30,031.88, Taiwan Weighted added 25.98 points or 0.25% to 10,514.56 and Nikkei 225 was up by 133.49 points or 0.6% to 22,453.10.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 22.71 points or 0.74% to 3,052.32.