Equity markets trade in green with modest gain

Equity markets in India have pared their early losses and were trading in green terrain with modest gain in early noon session. Sentiments on the street improved with Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s statement that the government is planning a holistic strategy to find long-term solution to a spike in petrol and diesel prices triggered by a spurt in international rates. Some support also came with a report stating that the government plans to spend Rs 4,000 crore this year to create new jobs in the country and it has already employed 40 lakh new job seekers through Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana. Traders took some relief with report by the ministry of new and renewable energy, stating that India has added 269.64 MW of renewable energy capacity last month taking the total grid connected clean energy capacity to 70,053.81 MW as on April 30.

On the global front, all the Asian shares were trading in red, tracking losses in Europe, where investors’ confidence was sapped by political uncertainty in Italy. Back home, market-participants took note of Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that Chinese officials will visit India soon to hold bilateral discussions on the issues hampering the negotiations of the proposed mega free trade deal - Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). In scrip specific developments, Vista Pharma surged on signing NDA to acquire complex ANDA for UROCARE. Besides, NMDC edged higher on reporting 11.35 MT production of iron during Q4.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35204.92, up by 39.44 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 35095.89 and 35234.14. There were 19 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index moved up 0.22%, while Small cap index was up by 0.38%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.92%, Capital Goods up by 0.87%, Auto up by 0.82%, Industrials up by 0.77% and Metal up by 0.71%, while Bankex down by 0.50% and Consumer Durables down by 0.22% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 1.91%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.25%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.18%, Tata Motors up by 1.01% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.85%. On the flip side, SBI down by 1.54%, ICICI Bank down by 1.24%, ONGC down by 0.82%, Asian Paints down by 0.47% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, global credit rating agency, Moody’s Investors Services in its latest report titled ‘Infrastructure - India: Highway PPPs gaining momentum, supported by government initiatives’ has said that India’s increasing use of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in highway sector supports private infrastructure investment. It pointed out that private investment in highway projects had been falling in recent years, amid issues such as slow project approvals and cost overruns, but the government’s introduction of the hybrid annuity model (HAM) in 2016-as a variation of PPPs-has triggered new investment inflows.

According to the report, other sectors such as the port, shipping and rail sectors, have also started looking at improving the PPP framework in order to attract private investment to fund India's substantial infrastructure needs. It explained that the HAM model adopted in India’s highways sector, relative to more traditional PPPs, rebalances certain project risks between the public and private sectors. In addition, it said that the government provides funding during the construction phase, thus addressing some of the key concerns of the earlier model. Further, it indicated that the HAM model has triggered a significant increase in projects awarded, with HAM projects accounting for around 46% of total awards in terms of highway length and 63% in terms of total value in the 12 months to March 2018.

Moody’s has stated that recently, the government has implemented measures in an attempt to attract private investment for India's vast infrastructure needs, including in the port and rail sectors. It also noted that the improving credit profiles of infrastructure developers is increasing their capacity to participate in PPP projects. However, it said that their access to funding remains a key concern, with banks constrained by sector-specific exposure limits and existing stressed assets in their infrastructure portfolios.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10708.50, up by 19.85 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 10663.95 and 10717.25. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 2.42%, Tata Steel up by 1.77%, HPCL up by 1.71%, Indian Oil up by 1.58% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.17%. On the flip side, SBI down by 1.60%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.51%, ICICI Bank down by 1.37%, Zee Entertainment down by 0.79% and Asian Paints down by 0.75% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng decreased 197.94 points or 0.64% to 30,594.32, Nikkei 225 declined 122.66 points or 0.55% to 22,358.43, Taiwan Weighted slipped 23.65 points or 0.22% to 10,964.12, KOSPI Index fell 20.63 points or 0.83% to 2,458.33 and Shanghai Composite was down 11.07 points or 0.35% to 3,124.01.