Firm trade persists; Sensex gains around 140 points

Firm trade persisted in late afternoon session, with Sensex and Nifty gaining around 140 and 30 points respectively. Domestic sentiments got boost with a private report stating that optimism level among India’s chief financial officers for the July-September period has improved as compared to the previous quarter and going forward distribution of rainfall, raw material costs and revival in demand will be the key deciding factors. Adding some comfort, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said that the exports are showing good sign and registering increase at the rate of 20%. Traders also remained upbeat with the IMF forecasting India is projected to clock an economic growth of 7.5% in the 2019-2020 fiscal year, on strengthening of investment and robust private consumption. Further, the broader markets too followed the firm larger peers in late noon deals, with Realty and Banking stocks gaining most on the BSE. However, gains remained capped, on the back of mixed cues from global markets. Some concerns also came with government auditor CAG’s report that National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) suffered losses of about Rs 400 crore on various counts including undue favour to developers by not recovering damages for project delays.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, even though France's economic growth is set to improve in the third quarter. As per survey data from Bank of France showed, Gross domestic product is forecast to expand 0.4% in the third quarter, compared to 0.2% growth seen in the second quarter. Asian markets were trading mixed, as China's consumer price inflation rose an annual 2.1% on year in July, topping forecasts for 2.0% and up from 1.9% in June. The producer price index jumped 4.6% from last year- beating forecasts for 4.5% and down from 4.7% in the previous month. Back home, in scrip specific development, Future Consumer gained after the company entered into a 50:50 Joint Venture (JV) Agreement with Fonterra (Europe) Cooperatie U.A, subsidiary of Fonterra Co-operative Group, New Zealand.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38025.56, up by 138.00 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 37939.28 and 38076.23. There were 19 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.64%, while Small cap index was up by 0.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.63%, Bankex up by 1.24%, Metal up by 1.20%, PSU up by 0.98% and Power up by 0.77%, while Telecom down by 0.90%, Consumer Durables down by 0.57%, Healthcare down by 0.54%, Oil & Gas down by 0.32% and Energy down by 0.09% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 4.90%, Axis Bank up by 2.93%, SBI up by 2.43%, Coal India up by 1.90% and Vedanta up by 1.58%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 3.99%, ONGC down by 1.92%, HDFC Bank down by 1.06%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.94% and Indusind Bank down by 0.79% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to expand overseas shipments, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu has said that Indian exporters need to diversify export basket and explore markets such as Africa and Latin America. He also expressed need to look on ways to promote services exports.

Prabhu mentioned about the efforts being taken by the government to boost the country's exports and to further increase the ease of doing business. He said that a comprehensive strategy is being worked out and a policy to promote agriculture exports has also been prepared by the ministry which would soon seek the Cabinet's approval on that.

Besides, Commerce and Industry Minister highlighted that the exports are showing good sign and registering increase at the rate of 20%. Moreover, he praised recently developed mobile app by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) for exporters, noting that the app will provide big opportunity to everybody and help promote export interests in the country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11478.20, up by 28.20 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 11454.10 and 11495.20. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 4.80%, Axis Bank up by 3.14%, Hindalco up by 2.74%, SBI up by 2.59% and Coal India up by 2.17%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 4.10%, ONGC down by 2.06%, Titan Co down by 1.96%, Cipla down by 1.60% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.37% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 declined 45.92 points or 0.2% to 22,598.39, Jakarta Composite plunged 31.16 points or 0.51% to 6,063.67, Taiwan Weighted was down by 47.18 points or 0.43% to 11,028.07. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 50.64 points or 1.81% to 2,794.71, Hang Seng zoomed 248.16 points or 0.87% to 28,607.30 and KOSPI was up by 2.26 points or 0.1% to 2,303.71.

All European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 fell 49.61 points or 0.64% to 7,727.04, France’s CAC decreased 10.99 points or 0.2% to 5,490.91 and Germany’s DAX was down by 1.41 points or 0.01% to 12,632.13.