Markets trade slightly in green in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made a positive start and are trading marginally higher in early deals tracking firm Asian counters. Sentiments remained up-beat with economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg’s statement that India's growth trajectory continues to be stable with strong macroeconomic fundamentals, despite a continual rise in global oil prices and hardening bond yields. He also said that the fiscal deficit programme has been going on very smoothly and there has been no reason to believe that there will be any greater impact. Traders also got some support with report that India is the sixth wealthiest country in the world with a total wealth of $8,230 billion, while the US is the richest nation globally. However, some gains remained capped on report that even as monsoon is predicted to be normal this year, its uneven distribution could spike food prices, and inflation is likely to edge further.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green at this point of time after fears of a trade war between the U.S. and China receded following weekend developments. The US markets ended mostly lower on Friday, as uncertainty about the outcome of the second round of trade talks between the U.S. and China kept traders on the sidelines.

Back home, banking stocks remained in focus on report that the finance ministry is expecting banks to write back more than Rs 1 lakh crore after the resolution of all 12 NPA cases referred to insolvency proceedings by the RBI it its first list. Besides, Indostar Capital Finance made a decent debut on the bourses and are trading with a gain of around three percent in early deals. In scrip specific developments, Dabur India gained on planning to invest Rs 300 crore in capacity expansion in FY19 and Skipper surged on getting nod for capacity expansion of engineering products division.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34893.88, up by 45.58 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 34758.84 and 34973.95. There were 16 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.43%, while Small cap index was down by 0.45%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.73%, IT up by 0.70%, Telecom up by 0.69%, PSU up by 0.64% and TECK up by 0.59%, while Realty down by 1.05%, Auto down by 0.91%, Healthcare down by 0.78%, Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services down by 0.75% and Consumer Durables down by 0.54% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 2.38%, ICICI Bank up by 1.96%, ONGC up by 1.76%, SBI up by 1.61% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.53%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.17%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.93%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.57%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.12% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.11% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg has said that the constant rise in global oil prices and hardening bond yields will not have any impact on the economic growth of India. He also said that the fiscal deficit programme has been going on very smoothly and there has been no reason to believe that there will be any greater impact. He added that the growth parameters are very sound, macroeconomic parameters also continue to be very sound and inflation is within the range.

Garg has said that the country’s growth continues to be stable with strong macroeconomic fundamentals. He said that the spurt in oil prices will push up the oil import bill by $25 billion to $50 billion under different scenarios and impact current account deficit (CAD), but inflation is under control and the fiscal deficit scenario is not worrisome either. Besides, India spent around $72 billion on oil imports last year. Moreover, crude oil prices has touched $80 per barrel, the highest since November 2014, giving rise to risk of higher inflation and petrol diesel prices across nations.

Economic affairs secretary further said that currency in circulation has come down in the last four days but situation is completely normal now. He also said that some outflows in the bond and equity markets have been seen but it is not alarming. Regarding the possibility of an excise duty cut on petrol and diesel, Garg said the government is not considering a tax cut at the moment. He said one needs to ‘watch what is happening’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10603.25, up by 6.85 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 10567.10 and 10621.70. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were TCS up by 2.42%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.07%, ICICI Bank up by 2.06%, SBI up by 1.82% and ONGC up by 1.62%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.23%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.84%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.59%, Indiabulls Housing down by 1.35% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.32% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 6.63 points or 0.36% to 1,861.13, KOSPI Index rose 8.42 points or 0.34% to 2,469.07, Shanghai Composite jumped 24.63 points or 0.77% to 3,217.93, Nikkei 225 increased 101.49 points or 0.44% to 23,031.85, Taiwan Weighted surged 138.22 points or 1.28% to 10,969.06 and Hang Seng up by 391.97 points or 1.26% to 31,439.88. 

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite down by 37.51 points or 0.65% to 5,745.80.