Sensex, Nifty hold gains; PSU stocks shine

Indian equity benchmarks were holding their gains in late afternoon session, tracking firm opening in European markets. Besides, PSU, Oil & Gas and Capital Goods sector were witnessing maximum buying interest, while Sun Pharma remained top gainer on the BSE with the gains of 7%, followed by Coal India and Maruti Suzuki. Optimism remained on the street with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that India has transformed from being a part of the ‘fragile five’ to the ‘bright spot’ on the global economic stage. He added that the government will now focus on consolidation of the initiatives taken in the past. The market participants also continued to take encouragement with the industry body, Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) statement that the Indian economy is on a recovery path and investments will pick up. It also expects that the country to record growth of 7.3-7.7% in 2018-19. Some comfort also came with the United Nations Economic Affairs Officer, Sebastian Vergara’s statement that India is in a good position to deal with any fallout from global trade tensions and with right policies can reach an 8% plus growth rate and hold it. However, the upside remained capped, amid Reserve Bank of India’s data report that India’s foreign exchange reserves plunged by $2.64 billion as on May 18.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as investors monitored signs of thawing tensions between the US and North Korea and reacted to renewed political turmoil in Italy. Asian markets were also trading in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, Kalpataru Power Transmission was trading higher after it received an approval for issuance of secured/unsecured redeemable Non-Convertible Debentures up to Rs 300 crore by the company in one or more tranches.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35187.65, up by 262.78 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 35006.50 and 35216.38. 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 1.31%, while Small cap index was up by 1.48%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 2.41%, Oil & Gas up by 2.34%, Capital Goods up by 2.09%, Healthcare up by 2.03% and Industrials up by 1.59%, while IT down by 1.92% and TECK down by 1.44% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 7.03%, Coal India up by 3.33%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.44%, SBI up by 2.23% and Asian Paints up by 2.19%. On the flip side, TCS down by 2.53%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.86%, Infosys down by 1.44%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.86% and Wipro down by 0.45% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, hailing ‘scam-free’ governance of the last four years, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stated that India has transformed from being a part of the ‘fragile five’ to the ‘bright spot’ on the global economic stage. He added that the government will now focus on consolidation of the initiatives taken in the past.

Jaitley also listed various efforts taken by the government to create transparent systems through legislative and institutional changes and noted that these things have led a scam-free governance in the country.  Besides, he said that the country has witnessed a journey from indecisiveness to clarity and decisiveness.

Finance Minister further highlighted that the country is now the fastest growing major economy in the world, which was early on the verge of becoming a ‘basket case’ and also expressed confidence that the country is likely to hold this position in the years to come. He also underlined the country’s transformation from a tax non-compliant society to a tax-compliant society, praising reform measures like the Goods and Services Tax and demonetization which are formalising the Indian economy.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10694.65, up by 89.50 points or 0.84% after trading in a range of 10640.55 and 10701.70. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 7.02%, HPCL up by 5.71%, BPCL up by 5.15%, GAIL India up by 4.37% and Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 4.37%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 4.08%, HCL Tech. down by 2.62%, TCS down by 2.31%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.91% and Hindalco down by 1.36% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 18.16 points or 0.74% to 2,478.96, Nikkei 225 increased 30.3 points or 0.13% to 22,481.09, Taiwan Weighted increased 45.47 points or 0.42% to 10,987.77, Jakarta Composite increased 90.22 points or 1.51% to 6,065.97 and Hang Seng increased 204.22 points or 0.67% to 30,792.26. On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 21.09 points or 1.17% to 1,776.31 and Shanghai Composite decreased 6.22 points or 0.2% to 3,135.08.

All European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 13.54 points or 0.18% to 7,730.28, France’s CAC increased 16.22 points or 0.29% to 5,558.77 and Germany’s DAX increased 53.93 points or 0.42% to 12,991.94.