Bulls tighten grip on Dalal Street; Realty stocks shine

Indian equity benchmarks were trading jubilantly in late afternoon session, as bulls tighten their grip on Dalal street, amid positive leads from European markets coupled with sustained buying. Sensex and Nifty gained 397 and 115 points, respectively, while Realty index remained top gainer among all the sectoral indices with the gains of more than 2%, followed by Basic Materials and Metal. The broader markets were outperforming the larger peers during late deals with Small cap index surging more than 2%. Domestic sentiments got boost, as Moody's Investors Service in its latest report expects India to stick to the estimated fiscal deficit of 3.3% of GDP and even cut capital expenditure to offset any slippage from the budgeted target. Traders were also optimistic with the RBI Governor Urjit Patel’s statement that there are no implications on non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks because of farm loan waivers provided by various states. Adding some comfort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government's constant endeavour is to ensure affordable healthcare for every Indian. Traders paid no heed towards Chairman of the EEPC India, Ravi Sehgal’s statement that the decision of interest rate hike would increase input cost pressures only for the exporters.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, even as the euro held near two-week high, supported by expectations that the European Central Bank could start to wind down its stimulus when it meets next week in Latvia. Asian markets were also trading in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, JK Cement gained on successfully implemented additional installed capacity of 2 lakh tonnes per annum of white cement based wall putty at J.K.White, Village Rupaund, Tehsil - Badwara, District Katni, M.P (J.K.White, Katni) unit.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35576.36, up by 397.48 points or 1.13% after trading in a range of 35278.38 and 35628.49. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.57%, while Small cap index was up by 2.03%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.53%, Basic Materials up by 2.05%, Metal up by 1.99%, Industrials up by 1.65% and Energy up by 1.58%, while there were losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 3.30%, ICICI Bank up by 3.05%, Axis Bank up by 2.97%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.83% and Tata Motors up by 2.47%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.05% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.30% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked its repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25% to combat inflationary pressures arising from higher international oil prices, Chairman of the EEPC India, Ravi Sehgal has said that the decision of interest rate hike would increase input cost pressures only for the exporters.

Sehgal pointed that the note of various headwinds being faced by the Indian exporters has been taken by the central bank itself but the remedy is not forthcoming and further termed this situation as the paradox for exporters. Besides, he noted that raising interest rate would also add to the cost of engineering exporters, most of which are in the SME segments, adding that in any case, they were reeling under the increase in steel prices and also pending refunds of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) hit their liquidity.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in its second bi-monthly monetary policy review of 2018-19, has raised the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25 basis points (bps) to 6.25%, the first increase since January 2014. The reverse repo rate under the LAF also increased to 6.0%.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10799.95, up by 115.30 points or 1.08% after trading in a range of 10722.60 and 10818.00. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 3.39%, ICICI Bank up by 2.99%, Axis Bank up by 2.71%, GAIL India up by 2.55% and Tata Motors up by 2.49%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 0.88%, Eicher Motors down by 0.46%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.32%, Bharti Infratel down by 0.27% and Titan down by 0.26% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 16.82 points or 0.69% to 2,470.58, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 19.14 points or 1.08% to 1,796.27, Jakarta Composite increased 40.1 points or 0.66% to 6,109.82, Taiwan Weighted increased 49.92 points or 0.45% to 11,251.75, Nikkei 225 increased 197.53 points or 0.87% to 22,823.26 and Hang Seng increased 253.53 points or 0.81% to 31,512.63. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite decreased 5.68 points or 0.18% to 3,109.50.

All European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 5.38 points or 0.07% to 7,717.75, France’s CAC increased 35.57 points or 0.65% to 5,493.13 and Germany’s DAX increased 59.39 points or 0.46% to 12,889.46.