Sensex, Nifty at day’s high

Key Indian equity benchmarks extended their gains in late afternoon session to trade near intraday high points, with Sensex and Nifty gaining more than 300 and 100 points, respectively, mirroring firm European markets. In line with the larger peers, the broader markets too added gains in late noon deals, while Oil & Gas remained top gainer on the BSE with gains of around 3%. Traders continued to take encouragement with a report that Care Ratings in its latest report titled ‘Indian Economy Prognosis: 2018-19’ has forecasted that India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth will accelerate to 7.5% in 2018-19, from 6.6% in the last fiscal. Some optimism also came after capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) allowed ‘omnibus’ trades at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-city (GIFT City), India’s only international financial service centre (IFSC). An omnibus structure allows an investor trade through a broker or service provider with confidentiality. Besides, gains in industry majors like ONGC, Tata Steel and Tata Motors - DVR also contributed to the upward rally.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, after North Korea made good on its promise to demolish the country’s nuclear test site and said it's still willing to talk with Washington, in response to Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to cancel a summit with the North’s leader, Kim Jong Un. Asian markets were also trading in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, NHPC was trading higher after declaring commercial operation of Unit No. 2 and Unit No. 3 of Kishanganga HE Project (3 x 110 MW), Jammu & Kashmir with effect from May 24, 2018.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34967.57, up by 304.46 points or 0.88% after trading in a range of 34700.52 and 34968.11. There were 27 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.38%, while Small cap index was up by 1.08%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 2.67%, Metal up by 2.25%, Utilities up by 1.90%, Basic Materials up by 1.79% and Telecom up by 1.64%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 4.09%, Tata Steel up by 3.75%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.38%, Tata Motors up by 2.35% and Yes Bank up by 2.25%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.64%, SBI down by 1.43%, ITC down by 0.58% and Asian Paints down by 0.13% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, continuing rising trend, bank credit at scheduled commercial banks has gone up by 12.64% on year-on-year basis. According to the fortnightly data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), bank’s credit stood at Rs 85,51,099 crore as on May 11, 2018 as compared with Rs 75,90,941 crore reported in the similar fortnight ended May 12, 2017.

The report showed that bank credit at all scheduled banks also witnessed a growth of 12.55% at Rs 88,09,300 crore as on May 11, 2018 as against Rs 78,26,709 crore reported in the similar fortnight ended May 12, 2017. Besides, in line with credit growth, the deposits also jumped at both scheduled commercial banks and all scheduled banks.

As per the RBI data report, the deposits at scheduled commercial banks surged by 7.61% to Rs 1,13,92,165 crore as on May 11, 2018 from Rs 1,05,86,083 crore in the fortnight ended May 12, 2017, while at all scheduled banks, deposits grew to  Rs 1,16,92,937 crore in the fortnight ended May 11, 2018 from Rs 1,08,705,56 crore in the fortnight ended May 12, 2017, registering growth of 7.57%.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10617.45, up by 103.60 points or 0.99% after trading in a range of 10524.00 and 10620.40. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 4.78%, ONGC up by 4.35%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 4.27%, Tata Steel up by 3.93% and Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 3.53%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.59%, SBI down by 1.42%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.38%, Asian Paints down by 0.55% and Lupin down by 0.31% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted increased 5.37 points or 0.05% to 10,942.30, Jakarta Composite increased 13.76 points or 0.23% to 5,960.30, Nikkei 225 increased 13.78 points or 0.06% to 22,450.79 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 17.33 points or 0.98% to 1,792.99. On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 172.37 points or 0.56% to 30,588.04, Shanghai Composite decreased 13.35 points or 0.42% to 3,141.30 and KOSPI Index decreased 5.21 points or 0.21% to 2,460.80.

All European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 26.64 points or 0.35% to 7,743.38, France’s CAC increased 26.82 points or 0.48% to 5,575.27 and Germany’s DAX increased 111.82 points or 0.87% to 12,966.91.