Benchmarks trade at fresh record high levels

Indian equity benchmarks made an optimistic start and are trading at their fresh record high levels in early deals, with frontline gauges inching toward their crucial 38,000 (Sensex) and 11,500 (Nifty) levels. Sentiments remained up-beat with the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) statement that India is on track to hold its position as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies as reforms start to pay off. The $2.6 trillion economy was described by Ranil Salgado, the IMF’s mission chief for India, as an elephant starting to run, with growth forecast at 7.3% in the fiscal year through March 2019 and 7.5% in the year after that. Some support came with report that India’s average per capita income in the last four financial years was higher at Rs 79,882 as compared to the preceding four fiscals. As per the report, the per capita income grew by 4.6% in 2013-14 to Rs 68,572; 6.2% to Rs 72,805 in 2014-15; 6.9% to Rs 77,826 in 2015-16 and by 5.7% to Rs 82,229 in 2016-17.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red at this point of time, as China hit back against the Trump administration’s latest tariffs and tensions ratcheted up between the US and Russia. The US markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday, as the United States and China continued to spar over trade policy.

Back home, power stocks edged higher on report that the installed power generation capacity in India has risen to 344 GigaWatts (GW) and its energy deficit, which stood at over 4% in 2014, has shrunk to less than 1% in 2018. In scrip specific developments, Balrampur Chini Mills remained in sweet spot on getting approval to set up distillery unit and Cipla gained on reporting 10% rise in Q1 consolidated net profit.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37996.51, up by 108.95 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 37953.50 and 38050.12. There were 14 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.50%, while Small cap index was up by 0.56%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.97%, Realty up by 0.93%, Bankex up by 0.81%, Energy up by 0.80% and Telecom was up by 0.72%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.17% and Metal was down by 0.13% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 4.12%, Sun Pharma up by 1.67%, Tata Motors up by 1.45%, SBI up by 1.44% and Infosys was up by 1.32%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 0.91%, HDFC Bank down by 0.89%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.86%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.69% and Power Grid was down by 0.66% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in an encouraging development, the government has said that India’s average per capita income in the last four financial years was higher at Rs 79,882 as compared to the preceding four fiscals. In contrast, from 2011-12 to 2014-15 it was Rs 67,594.

Minister of State for Statistics Vijay Goel said that the average Per Capita NNI (net national income) in the country during 2011-12 to 2014-15 is estimated at Rs 67,594 whereas average Per Capita NNI in the country during 2014-15 to 2017-18 is estimated at Rs 79,882. As per the report, the per capita income grew by 4.6 percent in 2013-14 to Rs 68,572; 6.2 percent to Rs 72,805 in 2014-15; 6.9 percent to Rs 77,826 in 2015-16 and by 5.7 percent to Rs 82,229 in 2016-17.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) data had showed that India’s per capita income grew at a slower pace of 8.6 percent to Rs 1,12,835 during the last fiscal ended March 2018. The per capita net national income in 2016-17 stood at Rs 1,03,870, witnessing a growth of over 10.3 percent from the preceding fiscal ended March 2016 (at Rs 94,130). The per capita income is a crude indicator of the prosperity of a country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11471.40, up by 21.40 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 11463.40 and 11495.20. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 3.92%, Cipla up by 2.75%, Lupin up by 1.69%, SBI up by 1.57% and Tata Motors was up by 1.51%. On the flip side, Titan down by 1.61%, UPL down by 1.33%, ONGC down by 1.19%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.09% and HDFC Bank was down by 0.99% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Jakarta Composite slipped 0.18 points or 0% to 6,094.65, Taiwan Weighted dropped 33.82 points or 0.31% to 11,041.43, KOSPI declined 1.71 points or 0.07% to 2,299.74 and Nikkei 225 was down by 11.05 points or 0.05% to 22,633.26.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite gained 48.97 points or 1.75% to 2,793.04 and Hang Seng was up by 255.38 points or 0.89% to 28,614.52.