Barometer gauges extend gains; Sensex above 35,500 mark

Barometer gauges have extended their initial gains in early noon session with Nifty and Sensex posting gains of over quarter a percent ahead of June F&O expiry. Some support came in with a report stating that the credit guarantee to the micro and small enterprises (MSEs) sector will double to over Rs 40,000 crore this fiscal under the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for MSE. On the global front, most of the Asian shares were totter under selling pressure as mounting trade tensions between the United States and other major economies continued to steer investors away from riskier assets.

On the home turf, short-covering by investors in Telecom, FMCG, TECK, Basic Materials and PSU stocks, helped markets to extend their gains. However, selling in Energy, Healthcare and Industrials were keeping a lid on the gains of the indices. Amongst the individual stocks, Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel were gaining the most among the telecom stocks on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35564.84, up by 94.49 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 35338.09 and 35577.56. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index slightly lower by 0.01%, while Small cap index down by 0.23%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.00%, FMCG up by 0.96%, TECK up by 0.49%, Basic Materials up by 0.38% and PSU up by 0.35%, while Energy down by 0.39%, Healthcare down by 0.25%, Industrials down by 0.25%, Capital Goods down by 0.14% and Realty down by 0.12% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 3.07%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.55%, HDFC up by 1.36%, ITC up by 1.07% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.12%, ICICI Bank down by 1.47%, Reliance Industries down by 1.32%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.74% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.64% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has said that the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation’s (EPFO) latest data showed that as many as 41.26 lakh new jobs were added between September 2017 and April 2018, with highest ever addition of 6.85 lakh in April alone. It noted that during April, the maximum new payrolls of 1,87,221 were recorded in the age bracket of 18 to 21 years followed by 1,80,892 payrolls in the 22 to 25-year bracket.

According to the EPFO, the data for most recent months are provisional as updation of employees records is a continuous process and are likely to be updated in subsequent months. It also said that for each age-wise band, the estimates are net of the members enrolled and ceased during the month. It pointed out said that the estimates may include temporary employees whose contributions may not be continuous for the entire year.

The CSO, a part of the ministry of statistics and programme implementation, further stated that the estimated total number of new National Pension Scheme (NPS) subscribers during the period September, 2017 to April, 2018 is 5,12,040 persons. It added that the present report gives different perspectives on the levels of employment in the formal sector and does not measure employment at a holistic level. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10791.90, up by 29.45 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 10732.55 and 10795.85. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 3.34%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.85%, Grasim Industries up by 1.90%, HDFC up by 1.45% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.36%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.94%, ICICI Bank down by 1.47%, Reliance Industries down by 1.38%, Cipla down by 1.36% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.70% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Straits Times shed 3.64 points or 0.11% to 3,257.20, Hang Seng dropped 78.83 points or 0.27% to 28,882.56, Taiwan Weighted slipped 44.29 points or 0.41% to 10,742.17, KOSPI decreased 1.73 points or 0.07% to 2,356.15, and Shanghai Composite was down by 18.52 points or 0.65% to 2,840.82.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 added 19.62 points or 0.09% to 22,357.77 and Jakarta Composite was up by 9.78 points or 0.17% to 5,868.86.