Local equities continue to trade in positive territory

Local equity benchmarks continued their trade in positive territory in morning session, as traders remained optimistic on report that India was growing faster than any larger economy and providing opportunities. It is important to focus on possibilities, good and bad, while remain mindful of the threats which the world is facing now. Traders took encouragement from Asian Development Bank (ADB) report which highlighted that India will continue to be the fastest growing major economy, ahead of China, with 7.3 per cent growth rate in 2018-19 and 7.6 per cent in 2019-20. The markets also took support from the Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s statement that at $7 per million British thermal unit, India made the cheapest deal with Russia for purchasing LNG, which will save India Rs 9,500 crore. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in mostly in red, on concerns China’s currency management could become the next flash point in a fierce trade conflict with the United States, after the central bank lowered its midpoint for the yuan for a seventh straight session and to its lowest in a year. Back home, in the sectoral front, power sector stocks came under pressure with report that peak power deficit during April-June, 2018-19 was 0.70%, while overall electricity deficit stood at 0.60% during the quarter. 170.76GW electricity was supplied during peak hours against the demand of 171.97 GW during the quarter. In scrip specific development, Alembic Pharma advanced on receiving EIR for API Facility in Gujarat. Besides, Gayatri Projects straightened on bagging orders worth Rs 2,759 crore.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36492.23, up by 141.00 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 36335.61 and 36553.09. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.37%, while Small cap index was up by 0.16%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.64%, TECK up by 1.48%, Capital Goods up by 1.07%, Energy up by 0.66% and Industrials was up by 0.63% while, Metal down by 0.52%, Power down by 0.38%, PSU down by 0.38%, Oil & Gas down by 0.37% and Basic Materials was down by 0.31% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.86%, ICICI Bank up by 1.91%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.78%, Reliance Industries up by 1.69% and Sun Pharma was up by 0.97%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.89%, Vedanta down by 1.87%, Power Grid down by 1.44%, HDFC down by 1.05% and Yes Bank was down by 1.04% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that banks promised funding to the tune of Rs 1.30 lakh crore for highways construction. He stated that he has held meetings with banks, RBI Governor and Union Finance Minister regarding funding to the road sector. The minister said ‘Banks have informed me in writing that they are ready to give Rs 1.30 lakh crore for funding of highway projects built in EPC (Engineering Procurement Construction) mode’.

He said till May 2014 the length of National Highways in the country was 91,000 km, which was insufficient to support growing number of vehicles as auto industry has recorded an annual growth of 22%.  The present government has doubled that length to 1.80 lakh km. Of this, up to 1.30 lakh km is under the Centre and the remaining 50,000 km is 'Principal National Highway' which is to be managed by states. During April-June Rs 87,663 crore was allocated to National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) of which Rs 20,743 crore has been released.

Besides, Gadkari highlighted 403 projects worth Rs 3.85 lakh crore were stalled during the UPA regime. The present NDA government, after assuming power in May 2014, has put on track Rs 3 lakh crore worth stalled projects.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10996.10, up by 39.00 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 10946.20 and 11017.40. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 5.85%, Bajaj Finserv up by 5.13%, Infosys up by 2.76%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.40% and ICICI Bank was up by 1.72%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 2.20%, Vedanta down by 2.16%, ONGC down by 2.13%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 1.87% and HPCL was down by 1.76% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading in mostly in red; Hang Seng slipped 156.02 points or 0.56% to 27,854.84, KOSPI declined 4.40 points or 0.19% to 2,277.89, Shanghai Composite dropped 3.35 points or 0.12% to 2,769.20, Nikkei 225 fell 204.33 points or 0.91% to 22,560.35, Jakarta Composite was down by 26.74 points or 0.46% to 5,844.34.

On the other side, Taiwan Weighted surged 60.93 points or 0.56% to 10,896.31 and Straits Times was up by 13.90 points or 0.42% to 3,291.48.