Domestic equities trade in green

Domestic equities were trading in green in morning session, with Sensex and Nifty garnering gains of around quarter a percent, snapping a two-day losing streak led by gains in Realty and Metal stocks. Market-men took support from a report stating that despite adverse impact on GST implementation, India saw a 20% increase in both the number of dollar millionaires and their wealth in 2017 to emerge as the fastest growing market for high net population. Traders also took encouragement from a report stating that India has the potential to become a $10 trillion economy by 2030. Besides, a report highlighted that India would shortly achieve the targeted 3% fiscal deficit level and that it will be more permanent and sustainable in nature. Traders took note of a private report that large Asia-Pacific economies such as India and China are paying a heavy price by excluding women from the workforce. If concrete steps are taken to address gender inequality at work and in society, the tangible gains can include as much as 18% higher gross domestic product for India by 2025. The investors overlooked a private report that a 200-basis-point increase in interest rates could cause a sharp rise in emerging-market corporate debt at risk of default, with Brazilian and Indian companies most vulnerable.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, rebounding from sharp losses in the previous session after rising trade tensions between the US and China spooked investors. Back home, in scrip specific development, Idea Cellular advanced on rolling out VoLTE service across all its 20 4G circles. Besides, Shreyas Shipping surges on taking delivery of MV SSL Krishna vessel.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35378.31, up by 91.57 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 35329.51 and 35431.67. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 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 0.04%, while Small cap index up by 0.16%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.70%, Bankex up by 0.42%, Metal up by 0.39%, Consumer Durables up by 0.37% and Healthcare was up by 0.25%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.87%, PSU down by 0.58%, Capital Goods down by 0.45%, Industrials down by 0.30% and Utilities was down by 0.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 1.38%, Axis Bank up by 1.25%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.96%, Yes Bank up by 0.94% and Bajaj Auto was up by 0.86%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.15%, Coal India down by 1.12%, Wipro down by 1.09%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 0.90% and Larsen & Toubro was down by 0.77% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to improve the monitoring and ensure compliance with the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has tightened norms for LRS by making quoting of permanent account number (PAN) mandatory even for transactions below $25,000. Under the LRS, all resident individuals, including minors, are allowed to freely remit up to $2,50,000 per financial year for any permissible current or capital account transaction or a combination of both.

The RBI highlighted that it has been decided that furnishing of PAN, which hitherto was not to be insisted upon while putting through permissible current account transactions of up to $25,000, shall now be mandatory for making all remittances under LRS.

Further, the Central Bank added that in the context of remittances allowed under LRS for maintenance of close relatives, it has been decided, in consultation with government, to align the definition of relative' with the definition given in Companies Act, 2013 instead of Companies Act, 1956. Earlier, a system for daily reporting of individual transactions under the LRS by banks was been put in place. This system enables the banks to view the remittances already sent by an individual during the financial year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10734.75, up by 24.30 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 10724.05 and 10756.75. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 2.16%, Cipla up by 1.68%, Vedanta up by 1.49%, Axis Bank up by 1.19% and Bajaj Finance was up by 1.08%. On the flip side, Indian Oil Corporation down by 2.02%, HPCL down by 1.81%, BPCL down by 1.75%, UPL down by 1.48% and ONGC was down by 1.09% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 189.70 points or 0.84% to 22,468.18, Straits Times gained 9.83 points or 0.30% to 3,311.18, Hang Seng jumped 216.26 points or 0.73% to 29,684.41, Taiwan Weighted advanced 17.56 points or 0.16% to 10,921.75 and KOSPI up by 26.89 points or 1.14% to 2,367.00.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 17.16 points or 0.59% to 2,890.66 and Jakarta Composite down by 151.47 points or 2.59% to 5,842.16.