Local indices continue to trade with traction

Local indices continued to trade with traction in early noon session with Sensex surpassing 35,100 level and Nifty holding 10,650 mark. Traders took some support from a report stating that bringing petrol and diesel under the ambit of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) could reduce the price of petrol and diesel. Some support also came from another report stating that India is in a ‘good position’ to deal with any fallout from global trade tensions and with right policies can reach an 8 percent-plus growth rate and hold it. The report also said that India’s services sector exports remain globally competitive and have a huge potential. Sentiments remained up-beat with the finance ministry stating that it is planning to set up a fund under the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) dedicated for strategic investments. Investors also took note of Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that India has a huge potential to boost trade and investments with Russia. Besides, strengthening of Indian rupee against US dollar also provided some support to the markets.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in green after US President Donald Trump appeared to confirm that his June summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un was on. Back on the domestic turf, traders were seen piling up positions in Oil & Gas, Healthcare and PSU stocks. But, selling was witnessed in IT, TECK and Consumer Durables sector stocks. IT index was down despite IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad stating that they are soon going to finalise the new electronics policy whose sub-segment will be export-oriented initiatives in the field of electronics. He also said that India is aspiring to become a $1 trillion digital economy in next few years, riding on opportunities in areas like IT and IT enabled services, e-commerce, electronics manufacturing, digital payments and cyber security.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35110.36, up by 185.49 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 35006.50 and 35155.39. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained by 1.09%, while Small cap index was up by 1.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 2.07%, Healthcare up by 2.03%, PSU up by 1.94%, Capital Goods up by 1.71% and Realty up by 1.36%, while IT down by 1.66%, TECK down by 1.39% and Consumer Durables down by 0.31% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 7.46%, Coal India up by 2.55%, Asian Paints up by 1.89%, ITC up by 1.65% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.56%. On the flip side, TCS down by 2.32%, Infosys down by 1.09%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.68%, ONGC down by 0.54% and Wipro down by 0.49% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry is planning to set up a fund under the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) dedicated for strategic investments. The Ministry’s discussions with investors are at advanced stage and it should be operational soon. Earlier this year, the NIIF kick started its funding activity with Dubai-based ports operator DP World by creating a platform for investing up to $3 billion of equity in the transport and logistics sectors in India.

The NIIF is planning to raise Rs 8,000 crore from various sources for the purpose of funding projects worth Rs 16,000 crore for the current fiscal. The government has provided budgetary support to NIIF by allocating Rs 1,000 crore that will be leveraged for raising Rs 8,000 crore from strategic anchor partners, such as multilateral and bilateral institutions, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and domestic public sector enterprises.

The NIIF is being operationalised by establishing three Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) under the SEBI Regulations. The proposed corpus of NIIF is Rs 40,000 crore. The government’s contribution to the AIFs under the NIIF scheme will be 49 percent of the total commitment. The NIIF has mandate to solicit equity participation from strategic anchor partners, like overseas sovereign/quasi-sovereign/multilateral /bilateral investors.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10671.55, up by 66.40 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 10640.55 and 10682.90. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 7.45%, HPCL up by 5.37%, BPCL up by 5.11%, Indian Oil up by 4.86% and GAIL India up by 3.40%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 4.22%, TCS down by 2.33%, HCL Tech down by 2.29%, Infosys down by 1.06% and ONGC down by 0.68% were the top losers.

Most of the Asian markets were trading in green; Nikkei 225 increased 10.05 points or 0.04% to 22,460.84, KOSPI Index increased 19.66 points or 0.8% to 2,480.46, Taiwan Weighted increased 45.47 points or 0.42% to 10,987.77, Jakarta Composite increased 77.8 points or 1.3% to 6,053.54 and Hang Seng increased 177.79 points or 0.58% to 30,765.83.

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 11.33 points or 0.63% to 1,786.07 and Shanghai Composite decreased 2.6 points or 0.08% to 3,138.70.