Domestic indices remain firm on continued buying support

Indian equity indices continued to trade firm in the early noon session, with Sensex managing to trade above their crucial levels of 38,000 on the back of buying in Realty, Bankex and PSU stocks. Sentiments also remained upbeat on report that Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 568.63 crore as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. Appreciation in Indian rupee too supported the sentiments. Besides, broader indices were trading in green and the market breadth was favoring positive trend. Meanwhile, the government will shortly unveil a new industrial policy that aims to speed up regulatory reforms and lower power tariffs to make businesses more competitive and create more jobs.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as trade war fears between US and China escalated. Back home, a private report stated that most public sector banks (PSBs) have seen a sound recovery from bad loan accounts in the first quarter (Q1) of the current financial year, indicating that their consistent focus on containing non-performing assets (NPAs) is yielding results. In scrip specific development, Cipla surged on reporting 10% rise in Q1 consolidated net profit.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38008.12, up by 120.56 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 37939.28 and 38061.06. There were 17 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.39%, while Small cap index up by 0.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.89%, Bankex up by 1.29%, PSU up by 1.03%, IT up by 0.50% and Industrials up by 0.44%, while Telecom down by 1.74%, Consumer Durables down by 0.83% and Consumer Disc down by 0.10% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 5.41%, SBI up by 3.35%, Axis Bank up by 3.08%, Infosys up by 1.61% and Tata Motors up by 1.53%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 4.80%, ONGC down by 1.54%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.34%, HDFC Bank down by 1.26% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.07% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in line with the Union Budget provisions, the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the transfer of Rs 50,000 crore as dividend to the government for the financial year ending June 30, 2018, helping the Centre stick to its fiscal roadmap. The RBI, which follows July-June financial year, has paid about 63 percent higher dividend than last year (2016-17). It is to be noted that the RBI transferred a surplus of Rs 30,659 crore as dividend to the government for the year ended June 30, 2017, which was less than half of what it paid in the previous year (Rs 65,876 crore).

In March, the RBI paid interim dividend of Rs 10,000 crore to support the government's fiscal position. In the Union Budget for 2018-19, the government projected to collect Rs 54,817.25 crore as dividend or Surplus of RBI, Nationalised Banks and Financial Institutions. The government realised Rs 51,623.24 crore under this head in the previous fiscal.

The fall in the surplus payout in June 2017 was because of expenses incurred on printing of new currency notes following the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 on November 9, 2016. Under the RBI Act, 1934, the central bank is required to pay the government its surplus after making provisions for bad and doubtful debts, depreciation in assets and, contribution to staff and superannuation fund among others

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11472.15, up by 22.15 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 11454.10 and 11495.20. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 5.30%, SBI up by 3.55%, Axis Bank up by 3.19%, Hindalco up by 1.63% and Infosys up by 1.61%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 5.14%, Titan Co down by 2.63%, ONGC down by 1.97%, Indiabulls Housing down by 1.59% and Zee Entertainment down by 1.55% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 45.92 points or 0.2% to 22,598.39, KOSPI decreased 2.36 points or 0.1% to 2,299.09, Jakarta Composite decreased 3.35 points or 0.05% to 6,091.48 and Taiwan Weighted decreased 47.18 points or 0.43% to 11,028.07.

On the contrary, Hang Seng increased 355.25 points or 1.24% to 28,714.39 and Shanghai Composite increased 52.57 points or 1.88% to 2,796.64.