Key gauges back in green led by gains in ICICI Bank, SBI

Altering between red and green terrain, Indian equity markets are now trading slightly in green on the back of buying in PSU, Telecom and Oil & Gas sectors. Sentiments are slightly positive on report that Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 738.05 crore on July 27, 2018, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. However, selling in IT, TECK and Capital Goods sectors limited the gains on the street. Investors are cautious ahead of the RBI policy decision later this week. Market-men also got anxious with a report stating that import tariffs will have far-reaching implications and though the impact is manageable for now, escalation in this aspect could mean significant downside to global growth. Besides, a weak Indian rupee too kept the gains check. On the sectoral front, Agriculture related stocks remained in focus after Union Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla stated that the government is making concerted efforts to double the farmers’ income by 2022.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red while currencies kept to familiar ranges at the start of a busy week peppered with central bank meetings, corporate results and updates on US inflation and payrolls. Back home, uptick in blue-chip stocks of ICICI Bank, SBI and RIL kept the markets above the neutral line. Meanwhile, the market breadth on the BSE was in favour of advances; there were 1376 shares on the gaining side against 916 shares on the losing side while 134 shares remained unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37362.87, up by 26.02 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 37292.45 and 37496.80. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.07%, while Small cap index was up by 0.37%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 1.73%, Telecom up by 1.17%, Oil & Gas up by 1.04%, Energy up by 0.77% and Healthcare up by 0.66%, while IT down by 0.59%, TECK down by 0.35%, Capital Goods down by 0.27%, Industrials down by 0.04% and Auto down by 0.03% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 3.72%, SBI up by 2.65%, Vedanta up by 2.23%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.65% and ONGC up by 1.46%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 1.71%, HDFC Bank down by 1.42%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.23%, Infosys down by 1.04% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.97% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a bid to boost the ‘Make in India’ initiative, the central government is likely to unveil the defence production policy (DPP-2018) in the month of August 2018, outlining a roadmap to build a robust defence production industry. The policy aims to make India one of the top five manufacturers of military equipment and platforms in the next 10 years as well as to fulfil demand of other friendly countries.

The policy will be sent to the Union cabinet for its approval soon. A significant focus of the policy will be to invest adequate resources to develop critical technology for manufacturing state-of-the-art military platforms including fighter jets, attack helicopters and weaponry indigenously.

According to the draft policy, the government is looking at achieving a turnover of Rs 1,70,000 crore in military goods and services by 2025. The aim of the DPP would be to indigenously develop all major platforms which are being imported since in the last six decades. The DPP is also likely to simplify the procurement process by cutting several layers of approval which often cause delays.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11286.25, up by 7.90 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 11261.45 and 11309.35. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 3.80%, SBI up by 2.67%, HPCL up by 2.56%, Lupin up by 2.29% and Vedanta up by 2.25%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 1.60%, Grasim Industries down by 1.48%, HDFC Bank down by 1.40%, Eicher Motors down by 1.37% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.24% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted decreased 42.24 points or 0.38% to 11,033.54, KOSPI decreased 3.43 points or 0.15% to 2,291.56, Nikkei 225 decreased 167.91 points or 0.74% to 22,544.84, Straits Times decreased 19.58 points or 0.59% to 3,305.40, Hang Seng decreased 261.37 points or 0.92% to 28,542.91 and Shanghai Composite decreased 9.15 points or 0.32% to 2,864.44.

Bucking the trend, Jakarta Composite increased 17.58 points or 0.29% to 6,006.72.