Benchmarks continue northward rally in last leg of trade

Benchmark indices are trading at record highs following firm global cues. Investors took encouragement with private report that India’s twin deficit and inflation are at a 'far more comfortable position' than in 2013. Besides recent fall in oil prices and strong foreign portfolio investors' (FPI) inflows will also support the domestic currency. Some optimism came with report that foreign investors have pumped in a little over Rs 6,700 crore into the Indian capital markets so far this month on improvement on the macro front, better corporate earnings and correction in the mid and small-cap space.

On the global front, positive opening in European markets too providing support to domestic markets following Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell statement that the U.S. economy is 'strong' enough to handle more normalization of policy. Also, Asian stocks remained broadly higher as Powell's comments gave markets a breather from simmering trade tensions. Back home, Bharti Airtel gained on expanding partnership with Netflix in India through which subscribers of select Airtel Postpaid and Lupin edged higher on launching four tablets.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38719.21, up by 467.41 points or 1.22% after trading in a range of 38416.73 and 38736.08. There were 30 stocks advancing against 1 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.06%, while Small cap index was up by 0.85%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.35%, Power up by 2.27%, PSU up by 1.78%, Bankex up by 1.73% and IT was up by 1.52%, while Realty down by 0.02% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 3.46%, SBI up by 3.08%, ICICI Bank up by 2.97%, Infosys up by 2.36% and Yes Bank was up by 1.95%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma was down by 0.88% were the only loser.

Meanwhile, citing International Monetary Fund (IMF) reports to highlight economic progress of India, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that a series of reforms taken by the government transformed the weak economy. He also said that the reform measures has substantially cleaned up the system and made it more transparent, noting that decisiveness has led to easier dec ision-making and made the economy stand out before several other countries.

Jaitley made a comparison of the IMF’s 2014 report with latest 2018 report and pointed that the report of 2014 talks about weak economy during the UPA government and the latest points at near-term macroeconomic outlook broadly favorable and growth forecast rising to 7.3% in FY 2018-19. Underlining the differences, he also said that in 2014, there was high fiscal and current account deficits as well as a standstill in infrastructure, power and in the allocation of natural resources.

The minister further took leaf out of 2018 report and emphasized that stability-oriented macroeconomic policies and progress on structural reforms continue to bear fruit. He also said that even though growth slowed to 6.7% in FY2017/18 post Note Ban and the goods and service tax (GST) rollout, the growth is recovering on account of an investment pickup. Jaitley also underlined the lower inflation figures of FY2017/18.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11696.90, up by 139.80 points or 1.21% after trading in a range of 11595.60 and 11697.05. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 3.46%, SBI up by 3.03%, ICICI Bank up by 3.03%, Hindalco up by 3.02% and Infosys was up by 2.63%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 0.81%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.22% and Eicher Motors was down by 0.11% were the few losers.

All the Asian markets are trading in green; Straits Times jumped 10.65 points or 0.33% to 3,223.65, Jakarta Composite rose 44.33 points or 0.74% to 6,013.08, Taiwan Weighted gained 92.86 points or 0.85% to 10,902.21, Hang Seng surged 599.40 points or 2.12% to 28,271.27, Shanghai Composite advanced 51.47 points or 1.85% to 2,780.90, KOSPI increased 6.09 points or 0.26% to 2,299.30 and Nikkei 225 was up by 197.87 points or 0.87% to 22,799.64.

European markets are trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 gained 14.27 points or 0.19% to 7,577.49, France’s CAC jumped 22.05 points or 0.4% to 5,454.55 and Germany’s DAX was up by 51.86 points or 0.42% to 12,446.38.