Markets hover near intra-day high; Sensex jumps 200 points

Bulls continued to dominate the markets in early noon session with Nifty and Sensex hovering near intra-day high point on widening of bets by traders ahead of Q1 numbers from IndusInd Bank and TCS. Some support came in with a private report stating that India and South Korea will reduce duties on 11 tariff lines in a bid to expand bilateral trade by updating their existing free-trade agreement, called the comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA). Optimism on the street continued after an analysis of listed private sector non-financial companies by the RBI showed that India’s manufacturing sector recorded robust growth in sales and improvement in operating profit growth in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal on yearly basis. Investors overlooked a private report stating that Indian inflation likely rose to a near two-year high in June, driven by surging oil and food prices a development that would strengthen calls for more monetary policy tightening by the Reserve Bank of India. Besides, on the BSE, realty, energy and telecom sector stocks were on a buying spree, while healthcare was the only losing sector. On the NSE, except for pharma sector all other sectors on the index were trading in green with realty witnessing the maximum gain followed by PSU Bank and IT.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green as overnight gains on Wall Street and the lack of bad news surrounding U.S.-China tariffs boosted sentiments. Back home, in scrip specific development, Idea Cellular rose on private report that the long-pending Vodafone-Idea merger has received conditional approval from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). On the sectoral front, Auto sector was trading higher after data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed that domestic passenger vehicle sales rose 37.54 % to 2,73,759 units in June this year from 1,99,036 units in the corresponding month last year. Data also showed that the domestic car sales were up 34.21 % to 1,83,885 units as against 1,37,012 units in June 2017.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36163.38, up by 228.66 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 36019.63 and 36173.78. There were 23 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.83%, while Small cap index up by 1.09%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.70%, Energy up by 1.68%, Telecom up by 1.25%, Basic Materials up by 1.06% and IT up by 1.00% while, Healthcare down by 0.30% was the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.69%, Axis Bank up by 1.97%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.70%, ICICI Bank up by 1.47% and Tata Steel up by 1.30%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.01%, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 1.01%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.75%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.59% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has sought extra budgetary support (EBR) of Rs 1,200 crore for four key surveys including informal sector, services, time use and economic census. Besides, Statistics Minister D V Sadananda Gowda has said that his ministry will soon come out with a National Policy on official statistics with a view of providing a framework for improving official statistical system.

The minister was of the view that the policy would help India improve its standards and quality of statistics, which are used for policy making. He also pointed out that to retain the trust of public in statistical products, and in particular those that are regularly or periodically produced by one office, require statistical audit through an external expertise.

Gowda further said that internal quality control mechanisms are not adequate. He noted that many countries are moving towards advanced quality control frameworks and statistical audit mechanisms, which may be explored in the Indian context. He also expressed concern over the fewer number of graduates and post-graduates pursuing the statistical profession in the government, due to which statistical agencies are relying on other professionals. He added that this area needs a thorough examination at all levels.  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10919.45, up by 66.55 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 10876.65 and 10922.80. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.68%, Reliance Industries up by 2.46%, UPL up by 2.28%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.21% and HCL Tech up by 2.16%. On the flip side, HPCL down by 1.23%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.10%, Sun Pharma down by 1.05%, GAIL India down by 0.86% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.77% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 increased 144.71 points or 0.65% to 22,196.89, Hang Seng advanced 22.16 points or 0.08% to 28,710.66, KOSPI surged 8.39 points or 0.37% to 2,294.19, Taiwan Weighted soared 36.61 points or 0.34% to 10,756.89, Straits Times gained 23.33 points or 0.72% to 3,252.15 and Jakarta Composite was up 62.41 points or 1.06% to 5,869.79.

On the contrary, Shanghai Composite decreased 13.74 points or 0.49% to 2,801.37.