Sensex, Nifty at day’s high

Indian equity benchmarks extended their gains in late afternoon session to reach at their fresh intraday high points, with Sensex and Nifty gaining more than 130 and 40 points, respectively, aided by firm opening of European markets. Heavy buying in Telecom, Healthcare and FMCG stocks along with gains led by major industry leaders such as Sun Pharma, M&M and ITC, helped the key indices to jump higher in late noon deals. Positive export data from special economic zones (SEZs) also kept the domestic sentiments up. India’s exports from SEZs jumped 38% to Rs 29,236 crore in the month of May 2018. As per the Export Promotion Council for EoUs and SEZs (EPCES) data, exports from these zones grew by 11% to Rs 1.01 lakh crore during April-May period of FY19. Some support also came with World Bank’s data report that India continued to be the world’s top recipient of remittance from its diaspora, gathering $69 billion in 2017–nearly 1.5 times India’s defence budget for 2018-19–an increase of 9.5% from the previous year. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for targeting double-digit GDP growth for breaking into the $5 trillion economy club and said India's share in world trade has to more than double to 3.4%.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, ahead of an OPEC meeting that could expand crude production. Investors’ sentiments got boost after IHS Markit showed that German private sector growth picked up pace in June, driven by stronger rise in services business activity. However, Asian markets were mostly trading in red. Back home, in scrip specific development, Ace Software Exports gained on incorporating subsidiary entity ‘Ace Nature Cure LLP’ on June 21, 2018.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35571.00, up by 138.61 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 35344.49 and 35581.65. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.12%, while Small cap index was down by 0.17%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.87%, Healthcare up by 0.78%, FMCG up by 0.74%, Utilities up by 0.25% and Capital Goods up by 0.22%, while Energy down by 1.50%, Oil & Gas down by 0.66%, Realty down by 0.61%, Metal down by 0.19% and IT down by 0.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.59%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.49%, ITC up by 1.67%, HDFC up by 1.41% and Axis Bank up by 1.32%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 2.16%, Wipro down by 1.29%, Indusind Bank down by 0.88%, Coal India down by 0.88% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing need of making agriculture viable, profitable and sustainable, the Vice President of India, Venkaiah Naidu has said that loan waivers are not a permanent solution and it would  affect the agriculture sector and hurt the farmers in the long-term. He also underlined the need to increase the income and the purchasing power of the farmers.

Naidu further listed solutions to make agriculture economically viable including need to identify the gaps in policy formulation, make policies more pro-farmer and need to streamline implementation processes keeping the end consumer- the farmer- always in view. He also emphasized that irrigation, infrastructure, investment and insurance sectors need to be strengthened for an integrated development of farm sector.

Besides, Vice President said that populist programs like loan waivers and free power would not provide lasting solutions and added that there is need to provide timely credit to the farmers at affordable interest rates. He also said that the farmers have to be given the latest know-how and trained in the do-how to improve farm productivity.

While, calling for enhancement in Lab-to-Land transfer of technologies and diversification of crops, Naidu said that farmers should be encouraged to cultivate high value crops like fruits, vegetables, condiments, pulses, spices and sugarcane and it is important to encourage farmers to take up allied activities like poultry, dairy, fisheries and aquacultures to not only enhance farmers income but also to provide a cushion against the adverse impact of failed crop.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10788.50, up by 47.40 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 10710.45 and 10788.90. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 2.89%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.75%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.38%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.20% and ITC up by 1.76%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 2.04%, HPCL down by 1.79%, UPL down by 1.41%, Eicher Motors down by 1.39% and Indusind Bank down by 1.16% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 declined 176.21 points or 0.78% to 22,516.83, Straits Times shed 9.11 points or 0.28% to 3,290.89 and Taiwan Weighted fell 41.79 points or 0.38% to 10,899.28 and Jakarta Composite was down 0.52 points or 0.01% to 5,821.81.On the flip side, Hang Seng was up by 42.65 points or 0.15% to 29,338.70, KOSPI gained 19.39 points or 0.82% to 2,357.22 and Shanghai Composite was up by 14.14 points or 0.49% to 2,889.95.

All European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 surged 43.74 points or 0.58% to 7,600.18, France’s CAC was up by 39.47 points or 0.74% to 5,355.48 and Germany’s DAX increased 47.92 points or 0.38% to 12,559.83.