Sensex hits all-time highs; Nifty surpasses 11k mark

Indian equity benchmarks have made a gap up opening and are trading jubilantly in early deals with Sensex hitting a record high of 36,500 levels - surpassing its previous high, while Nifty recapturing 11,000 mark. Sentiments remained up-beat with a report that India has become the world’s sixth largest economy overtaking France. According to World Bank data on gross domestic product (GDP) of countries for 2017, India’s gross domestic product (GDP) stood at $2.597 trillion at the end of 2017, compared to $2.582 trillion for France. Traders also took some encouragement with the International Labour Organization (ILO), an arm of the United Nations, report that if 40% of India’s electricity comes from renewables by 2030 (from 7.5% in February 2018), the country could add about 3 million new jobs.

Global cues too aided sentiments with Asian markets rallying at this point of time with markets shaking off some of the trade jitters seen overnight after the Trump administration announced a list of Chinese goods that may be subject to new tariffs. The US markets snapped four-day winning streak to end lower on Wednesday, after the Trump administration announced new tariffs on Chinese goods, further escalating tensions between the two largest economies in the world.

Back home, stocks related to real estate sector edged higher with a private report that the private equity (PE) investment in Indian real estate sector grew by an average 36% annually to reach $8.6 billion in 2017 from $2.5 billion in 2014. Telecom sector stocks edged lower despite report that the Telecom Commission approving the new telecom policy - National Digital Communications Policy (NDCP), 2018 - aimed at promoting investments, ease of doing business, and emerging technologies like 5G.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36518.25, up by 252.32 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 36422.08 and 36540.39. There were 22 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged 0.77%, while Small cap index was up by 0.74%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.92%, Oil & Gas up by 1.76%, Bankex up by 1.20%, PSU up by 1.17% and Healthcare up by 0.79%, while Telecom down by 0.35%, TECK down by 0.18% and IT was down by 0.11% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 1.99%, SBI up by 1.70%, ICICI Bank up by 1.54%, Indusind Bank up by 1.52% and Axis Bank up by 1.32%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 0.95%, Wipro down by 0.88%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.80%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.52% and Vedanta down by 0.34% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the World Bank in its latest report stated that Indian economy has now become world’s sixth-biggest economy in 2017. The country pushed France to the seventh spot and ranked ahead of several European Union (EU) states. India’s gross domestic product (GDP) was valued at $2.597 trillion at the end of 2017 overtaking French economy, which was amounted at $2.582 trillion last year. However, in terms of per capita GDP, India still lags far behind France, which is nearly 20 times bigger in comparison. This is because of the huge size of India’s population, which is estimated to be around 134 crore against only 6.7 crore of France.

According to the World Bank, Indian economy has benefitted from robust performances in manufacturing sector driven by increased consumer spending. It also noted that demonetisation in November 2016 and chaotic implementation of goods and services tax (GST) rollout in July last year were to be blamed for extended slowdown of Indian economy.

The report showed that the United Kingdom, which is facing Brexit blues, had a GDP of $2.62 trillion, which is about $25 billion more than that of India. The US is the world's largest economy with a size of $19.39 trillion, followed by China (USD 12.23 trillion) at the second place. Japan (USD 4.87 trillion) and Germany (USD 3.67 trillion) are at the third and fourth places, respectively. Based on GDP size, other three countries in the top ten are Brazil (8th), Italy (9th) and Canada (10th).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11026.10, up by 77.80 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 10999.65 and 11030.85. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HPCL up by 4.04%, BPCL up by 3.90%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 3.82%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 3.03% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.93%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 2.66%, Infosys down by 1.08%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.99%, Wipro down by 0.64% and Adani Ports down by 0.56% were the top losers.

Asian markets are rallying; Nikkei 225 surged 287.48 points or 1.29% to 22,219.69, Straits Times rose 3.44 points or 0.11% to 3,252.52, Hang Seng jumped 201.18 points or 0.71% to 28,512.87, Taiwan Weighted advanced 46.58 points or 0.43% to 10,723.42, KOSPI added 15.65 points or 0.68% to 2,296.27, Jakarta Composite strengthened 23.46 points or 0.40% to 5,916.82 and Shanghai Composite was up by 52.67 points or 1.86% to 2,830.44.