Benchmarks open at fresh highs; Nifty conquers 11,700

Buoyed by firm global cues, Indian equity benchmarks extended previous session’s jubilation and are trading near fresh all time high levels in early deals, with frontline gauges conquering their crucial 11,700 (Nifty) and 38,700 (Sensex) levels. Sentiments remained optimistic, as traders took encouragement with Economic policy think-tank, the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in its latest report retaining India’s growth forecast for the current fiscal at 7.4%, citing comfortable agricultural sector outlook and a marked improvement in the external sector. Some support came with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion’s (DIPP) latest data showing that foreign direct investment (FDI) in India grew by 23% to $12.75 billion during the April-June quarter of 2018-19, as compared to foreign fund inflows of $10.4 billion in April-June 2017-18.

Global cues too remained supportive with all the Asian counters trading in green at this point of time amid hopes global tariff tensions were abating as the United States and Mexico made a deal to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement. The US markets ended higher on Monday as the United States and Mexico closed a new trade deal, potentially removing a source of uncertainty that had been plaguing investors for months.

Back home, power sector stocks edged higher with a report that the Finance Ministry may soon hold talks with the Reserve Bank of India to resolve issues faced by the power sector. In scrip specific developments, Jet Airways gained despite reporting net loss of Rs 1,323.00 crore in Q1FY19, while Reliance Capital moved up on raising funds through NCDs.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38771.92, up by 77.81 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 38765.96 and 38920.14. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index dipped 0.28%, while Small cap was index up by 0.12%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 0.62%, Metal up by 0.52%, Power up by 0.48%, Healthcare up by 0.39% and Oil & Gas was up by 0.37%, while Consumer Durables down by 1.36%, Realty down by 0.48%, Bankex down by 0.42% and PSU was down by 0.03% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.47%, Coal India up by 1.66%, Asian Paints up by 1.05%, Vedanta up by 0.98% and HDFC up by 0.69%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 1.46%, SBI down by 1.10%, Axis Bank down by 0.91%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.65% and ICICI Bank down by 0.60% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, citing comfortable agricultural sector outlook and a marked improvement in the external sector, economic policy think-tank, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has retained India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast at 7.4% for the current fiscal (FY19). As per the NCAER report, the real agriculture Gross Value Added (GVA) is envisaged to grow at 4.6%, real industry GVA at 5.1%, and real services GVA at 8.5% in 2018-19.

Both the NCAER annual and quarterly models forecast that GVA will grow at 7% per annum in 2018-19 on a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis. NCAER’s latest Quarterly Review of the Economy said the annual model forecasts that GDP at market prices will grow at 7.4% for 2018-19 on a Y-o-Y basis, same as May 2018. Besides, the growth rates in exports and imports, in dollar terms, are estimated at 11.9% and 15.1% respectively. The current account balance and central fiscal deficit, as percentages of GDP, are projected at 2% and 3.3% respectively.

The economic policy think tank said the trends for both rainfall and prices indicate comfortable agricultural sector outlook for the year as a whole. It noted that there was also a marked improvement in the external sector in 2018-19 and said that the financial year 2017-18 witnessed a rise of 9.9%  and 18.6%, respectively, in exports and imports, on a Y-o-Y basis. It added that the upswing continued even in FY19, wherein the total exports grew at the rate of 18% and total imports surged at 15.1% on a Y-o-Y basis during the period April-May.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11715.15, up by 23.20 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 11712.85 and 11760.20. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 2.56%, Cipla up by 2.32%, Coal India up by 1.52%, Asian Paints up by 1.15% and Hindalco up by 1.11%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 1.76%, UPL down by 1.29%, Yes Bank down by 1.20%, SBI down by 1.01% and Axis Bank down by 0.88% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading in green; Nikkei 225 gained 110.29 points or 0.48% to 22,909.93, Taiwan Weighted surged 91.14 points or 0.83% to 10,993.35, Straits Times soared 30.67 points or 0.94% to 3,256.29, Jakarta Composite increased 22.45 points or 0.37% to 6,048.42, Hang Seng jumped 68.93 points or 0.24% to 28,340.20, KOSPI added 8.34 points or 0.36% to 2,307.64 and Shanghai Composite was up by 0.08 points to 2,780.98.