Local bourses hold gains in afternoon deals

Indian equity benchmarks held their gains in afternoon session, on account of buying in front line blue chip counters. Sentiment on the street remained positive with a report stating that Corporate India announced deals worth $74.8 billion in the January-June period, registering a 90% jump over last year, largely driven by big ticket consolidations. Other than the optimism around better earnings, strengthening rupee and falling crude prices also helped key indices to trade in green. However, further gains were restricted with report stating that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) trimmed India’s growth projection by 0.1 percentage point to 7.3% for 2018-19 against the earlier estimate of 7.4%, owing to high oil prices and a tight monetary policy regime. IMF said that India’s growth rate is expected to rise to 7.3% in 2018 (2018-19) and 7.5% in 2019 (2019-20), the projection is 0.1 and 0.3 percentage point lower for 2018 and 2019, respectively. On the sectoral front, shares of state-run oil marketing companies such as HPCL, BPCL and IOC were trading with decent gains, supported by a sharp fall in crude prices. Besides, Airline stocks such as Jet Airways and SpiceJet gained after a global aircraft leasing firm stating that the passenger aircraft fleet in India is set to nearly double to 1,100 planes by 2027, from around 600 at present.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, following a mixed day on Wall Street, as tensions over U.S. tariffs overshadowed data suggesting global growth is still on track. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36372.52, up by 48.75 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 36261.78 and 36470.76. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.10%, while Small cap index was up by 0.45%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.84%, PSU up by 1.25%, Energy up by 1.12%, Healthcare up by 1.10% and Consumer Durables up by 0.89%, while FMCG down by 0.62% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.36%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.84%, Tata Motors up by 1.57%, ICICI Bank up by 1.56% and Tata Steel up by 1.41%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.19%, NTPC down by 1.48%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.46%, Indusind Bank down by 1.17% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.49% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the IHS Markit Business Outlook survey has highlighted that business confidence regarding future activity in India remained subdued in the month of June amidst intense competition, high fuel prices and strong cost pressures. It pointed out that only 20% of Indian businesses expect output growth over the next 12 months, unchanged from February. It noted that the business confidence reading for India was below the average recorded for BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations at 23% and globally at 31%.

The report stated that sentiment surrounding new business and revenue expectations is at the highest level seen since October 2016, as survey respondents forecast further improvements in client demand and market conditions. It noted that at the sector level, Indian manufacturing companies signalled a stronger degree of positive sentiment, while service providers are less upbeat than in the prior survey period.

As per the report, although, Indian companies expressed concerns that high crude oil prices may fuel inflationary pressures, the survey report signals that this has not deterred company plans to expand capacity in the year ahead, as hiring intentions and capex plans were both revised up in June.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10960.55, up by 23.70 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 10925.60 and 10989.65. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HPCL up by 5.60%, Indian Oil Corp. up by 4.32%, BPCL up by 2.94%, Cipla up by 2.38% and Sun Pharma up by 2.07%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.08%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.80%, NTPC down by 1.41%, Indusind Bank down by 1.22% and Eicher Motors down by 1.00% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 367.64 points or 1.3% to 28,172.02, KOSPI shed 4.07 points or 0.18% to 2,297.92, Taiwan Weighted dipped 38.46 points or 0.36% to 10,778.99, Jakarta Composite fell 46.92 points or 0.8% to 5,858.24 and Shanghai Composite was down by 20.69 points or 0.74% to 2,793.35.

On the flip side, Straits Times increased 8.43 points or 0.26% to 3,241.22 and Nikkei 225 rose 100.01 points or 0.44% to 22,697.36.