Markets at day’s high; Metal stocks steal the show

Key Indian benchmarks added some gains in late afternoon session to reach at their intraday high points, with Sensex and Nifty gaining more than 150 and 50 points, respectively, despite weak opening in European markets. Besides, metals gained the most among all other sectoral indices, followed by Basic Materials and Oil & Gas, and the broader markets too managed to keep their heads in green terrain. The domestic sentiments remained upbeat with MSME Secretary S K Panda’s statement that the ministry is holding discussions with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) about promoting fintech companies which can reach out much better than the scheduled commercial banks to the MSMEs all across India, in order to enhance credit flow to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Traders were also taking support with a report that a parliamentary panel decided to study the recovery of black money and performance of public sector banks among a host of subjects. Traders paid no heed towards Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha’s statement that the data on economic growth put out by the Central government cannot be trusted. He also questioned the government’s claims about GDP growth and generation of employment.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, as investors reacted to a monetary policy meeting by the UK's central bank. The Bank of England (BOE) held interest rates steady, after a first-quarter slowdown in economic growth tarnished the case for higher borrowing costs. However, Asian markets were trading in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, JSW Steel was trading higher on reporting crude steel production of 13.61 lakh tons (LT) in April 2018, a growth of 6% over the corresponding month of previous year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35433.09, up by 186.82 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 35262.06 and 35440.24. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.49%, while Small cap index was up by 0.02%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.59%, Basic Materials up by 1.08%, Oil & Gas up by 1.08%, Energy up by 0.89% and Capital Goods up by 0.80%, while Telecom down by 4.28%, Consumer Durables down by 1.12%, Healthcare down by 0.93%, Realty down by 0.56% and TECK down by 0.27% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 5.56%, Tata Steel up by 2.44%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.35%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.29% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.28%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 6.66%, Sun Pharma down by 5.32%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.44%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.91% and NTPC down by 0.48% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to enhance credit flow to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by ensuring credit flow for them is up to the expectation, gaps are bridged and their problems are addressed, MSME Secretary S K Panda has said that the ministry is holding discussions with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) about promoting fintech companies which can reach out much better than the scheduled commercial banks to the MSMEs all across India.

Panda also emphasized the efforts being taken by the ministry to address issues pertaining to decline in exports and added that the ministry will constitute a special task force which will focus on steps required to enhance exports from the enterprises with an aim of making them part of the global value chain.

Expressing hope that the quantum of credit guaranteed by the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust For Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) may touch Rs 50,000 crore this year, MSME Secretary said that the ministry is allowing NBFCs partial collateral and also trying to work with GSTN to generate integrated database to get the details of MSMEs to communicate with them and work on the problems faced by them. Besides, he said the ministry will seek support of state governments to put up details of MSMEs on the Samadhan Portal so that payments due to small enterprises do not get stuck.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10777.00, up by 60.45 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 10724.45 and 10780.60. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 5.27%, HPCL up by 3.61%, Tata Steel up by 2.39%, BPCL up by 2.18% and Vedanta up by 2.11%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 6.14%, Sun Pharma down by 5.55%, Titan down by 1.60%, Cipla down by 1.18% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.04% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 13.55 points or 0.55% to 2,477.71, Jakarta Composite increased 62.42 points or 1.06% to 5,970.36, Taiwan Weighted increased 98.77 points or 0.92% to 10,858.98, Nikkei 225 increased 261.3 points or 1.16% to 22,758.48 and Hang Seng increased 312.84 points or 1.02% to 31,122.06. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite decreased 11.15 points or 0.35% to 3,163.26.

All European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 20.89 points or 0.16% to 13,001.98, France’s CAC decreased 17.62 points or 0.32% to 5,528.33 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 1.18 points or 0.02% to 7,699.79.