Benchmarks continue northward journey in early noon session

Domestic benchmarks continued their northward journey in early noon session amid positive cues from Asian markets. Some support came in with World Bank’s report stating that India is projected to regain its position as the world’s fastest-growing major economy advancing 7.3 per cent this fiscal year and 7.5 per cent in the next two ‘as factors holding back growth in India fade’. Further, market sentiments were also buoyed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that the government is taking several steps to promote young entrepreneurs in the country, adding that startups are no longer confined to big cities. Meanwhile, investors took note of a private report stating that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council is likely to bring in two petroleum products - natural gas and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) - under the ambit of the new indirect tax system at its next meeting.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green after tech sector strength lifted Wall Street shares but Italian political situation pushed US Treasury yields down from recent highs which impelled investors to move back into safe-haven government debt. Back on the domestic front, telecom stocks edged higher with a report stating that increased investments by telecom operators and better rules pertaining to the rollout of tower sites seem to be paying off when it comes to dealing with call-drops. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India released a data which showed that the rate of call drops has improved over the last two years from 0.94% in 2016 to 0.52% by March 2018. Separately, market breadth was in favour of advances; there were 1428 shares on the gaining side against 935 shares on the losing side, while 116 shares remained unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35042.80, up by 139.59 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 34896.37 and 35079.37. There were 22 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained by 0.50%, while Small cap index was up by 0.63%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.26%, Realty up by 1.16%, Telecom up by 1.09%, Capital Goods up by 1.06% and Industrials up by 0.94%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.15% and Utilities down by 0.03% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 2.63%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.31%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.01%, Sun Pharma up by 1.66% and Coal India up by 1.61%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.18%, ICICI Bank down by 0.44%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.40%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.20% and HDFC Bank down by 0.12% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, renewable energy minister R K Singh has said that the government is all set to launch a big ticket Rs 1.4 lakh crore Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Mahaabhiyan (KUSUM) scheme from July 2018. He noted that under the scheme, the government has planned to provide 27.5 lakh solar pumps (17.50 lakh standalone + 10 lakh Grid-connected). He said that it will help farmers install total 10 GW of Solar Power Plants of intermediate capacity of 0.5 to 2 MW each. It also envisages 50,000 Grid-connected tube-wells/lift irrigation and drinking water projects. He also gave assurance about bringing the hydro power policy and expressed hope to roll out the Rs 16,000 crore plan for beleaguered hydro power capacities in the country.

Recounting the achievements of the government in the last four years, Singh exuded confidence that 4 crore families targeted under the SAUBHAGYA scheme would get electricity connections by December, ahead of the March 2019 deadline. Moreover, he said that in the 48 years before 2014, the pace of capacity addition in generation was about 4,800 MW per year. He noted that in 4 years, the pace of capacity addition was about 24000 MW per year. That is 4.8 times more. He added that during the past four year, India has emerged as one nation, one grid and one market.

Talking about transmission capacity, the minister said that 100,000 MW of power generation capacity and one lakh circuit km (ckm) of inter-state transmission capacity had been added in the last 4 years. He pointed out that till 2014 the pace of capacity addition of transmission lines was only four thousand few hundred CKM. In the 4 years, it was 25,000 ckm per year. Further, he stated that India’s renewable energy capacity has been doubled to 70 GW in last four years and the country is poised to achieve 225 GW renewable energy capacity addition by March 2022, as against the current target of 175 GW.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10637.80, up by 44.65 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 10587.50 and 10647.10. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 2.61%, Titan Co up by 2.44%, HCL Tech. up by 2.34%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.25% and Bajaj Finance up by 2.17%. On the flip side, HPCL down by 1.48%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.31%, Asian Paints down by 1.26%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 1.06% and GAIL India down by 1.06% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 5.74 points or 0.33% to 1,760.88, Nikkei 225 surged 94.77 points or 0.42% to 22,634.31, Taiwan Weighted soared by 101.72 points or 0.92% to 11,201.83 and Hang Seng was up by 144.87 points or 0.47% to 31,238.32.

Bucking the trend, Jakarta Composite decreased 3.48 points or 0.06% to 6,085.31 and Shanghai Composite was down 2.49 points or 0.08% to 3,111.72.