Stock markets continue upward trend; Oil & Gas stocks top gainer

Indian equity markets continued their upward trend in the early noon session tracking firm global cues. Investors’ sentiments were buoyed by strong corporate earnings posted by Federal Bank, Zee Entertainment, Ashok Leyland, ICICI Lombard, Nucleus Software Exports and several others. Sentiments on the street were optimistic with a report stating that Inflation based on wholesale prices, which touched a 4-year high in June, seems to have peaked for this financial year, and is expected to glide down to around 4.1 percent by March 2019. Further, some support also came in with IMF stating that India's growth remains 'quite robust' into the future, despite slightly downgrading the country's growth projection for 2018-19 due to high oil prices and a tight monetary policy regime. Investors will look forward to the Monsoon Session of Parliament that will start today, June 18.

On the sectoral front, stocks of the some Public sector banks were in focus after the finance ministry approved capital infusion of Rs 11,336 crore in five PSU bank including PNB, Corporation Bank and Andhra Bank to help them meet regulatory capital requirement.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green tracking gains seen on Wall Street amid earnings season news and following upbeat remarks from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell during his congressional testimony. Back home, in scrip specific development, shares of Reliance Industries rose after a report said that it plans to raise about Rs 40,000 crore in fresh debt this financial year as it expands its consumer businesses. Bandhan Bank was trading in green ahead of its first quarter earnings due later in the day.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36639.66, up by 119.70 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 36584.56 and 36747.87. There were 19 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.60%, while Small cap index down by 0.06%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.42%, Energy up by 0.72%, Consumer Durables up by 0.53%, Capital Goods up by 0.47% and IT up by 0.17%, while Telecom down by 2.12%, Metal down by 1.57%, Realty down by 0.89%, Basic Materials down by 0.74% and FMCG down by 0.32% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 4.16%, HDFC Bank up by 1.85%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.70%, Sun Pharma up by 1.65% and Asian Paints up by 1.39%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.00%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.62%, Tata Motors down by 1.73%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.57% and Vedanta down by 1.55% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a major relief to the domestic textile manufacturers, the Central Board of indirect Taxes and Custom (CBIC) has doubled import duty on over 50 textile products to 20 percent from 10 percent earlier. It has also raised the ad-valorem rate of duty for certain items. The imported products which have become expensive include woven fabrics, dresses, trousers, suits and baby garments.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) DG Ajay Sahai has stated that the increased customs duty on import of a range of textile products will help boost domestic manufacturing. However, he noted that imports from the least developed countries such as Bangladesh would continue to enjoy duty free access to Indian markets.

According to government data, imports of textile yarn, fabric, made-up articles into the country grew by 8.58 percent to $168.64 million in June. However, exports of Cotton Yarn/Fabrics/made-ups, Handloom Products etc. grew by 24 percent to $986.2 million. Man-made Yarn/Fabrics/made-ups exports grew 8.45 percent to $403.4 million. Exports of all textile ready made garments dipped by 12.3 percent to $13.5 billion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11049.20, up by 41.15 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 11033.80 and 11076.20. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing up by 4.46%, ONGC up by 4.23%, HDFC Bank up by 1.89%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.82% and Eicher Motors up by 1.74%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.15%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.66%, Lupin down by 2.28%, Hindalco down by 2.10% and Tata Motors down by 1.74% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted increased 63.47 points or 0.59% to 10,842.46, Jakarta Composite increased 19.23 points or 0.33% to 5,880.74, Nikkei 225 increased 96.83 points or 0.42% to 22,794.19 and Straits Times increased 9.38 points or 0.29% to 3,249.02.

On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 104.89 points or 0.37% to 28,076.79, KOSPI decreased 8.02 points or 0.35% to 2,289.90 and Shanghai Composite decreased 6.57 points or 0.24% to 2,791.56.