Local equities continue firm trade

Local equity benchmarks continued their firm trade with Nifty striking 11,700 for the first time, while Sensex gained over 150 points to hit another record high in the early morning trade. Besides, a firm trend at other Asian bourses, taking another record lead from Wall Street as investors cheered news of trade deal between the US and Mexico also supported domestic markets. The sectoral indices Consumer Durables and Realty were down by half a percent and weakness in midcaps, too, has weighed on the indices. Traders took encouragement from a report that NCAER retained India’s growth forecast for the current fiscal at 7.4% citing comfortable agricultural sector outlook and a marked improvement in the external sector. In 2018-19 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%. Traders also remained optimistic with a private report that India can capture the Chinese commodity market vacated by US exports following the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. Investors took note of Commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that he has asked traders to develop strategies to double exports by 2025 to help create jobs, bring in foreign exchange and validate India’s international competitiveness.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, following US stocks hitting record highs as US President Donald Trump signed trade agreement with Mexico, paving way for agreements with other countries. Back home, in scrip specific development, Compuage Infocom surged on receiving exclusive rights to use trademark ‘Altec Lansing’. Besides, Karnataka Bank gained on entering into agreement with Bank Bazaar.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38821.51, up by 127.40 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 38760.58 and 38920.14. There were 22 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index slipped 0.03%, while Small cap index was up by 0.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.03%, Utilities up by 0.91%, Metal up by 0.90%, IT up by 0.71%, Energy up by 0.62%, while Consumer Durables down by 1.15%, Realty down by 0.60%, Bankex down by 0.30%, Telecom down by 0.10% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.26%, Tata Motors up by 1.56%, Coal India up by 1.42%, Infosys up by 1.29% and Maruti Suzuki was up by 1.24%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 2.08%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.86%, SBI down by 0.70%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.65% and Axis Bank was down by 0.58% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion in its latest data has showed that foreign direct investment (FDI) in India surged 23% to $12.75 billion in first quarter of current financial year (Q1FY19) as compared to $10.4 billion in the same period of last financial year (Q1FY18). Key sectors that received maximum foreign investment during the Q1FY19 include services ($2.43 billion), trading ($1.62 billion), telecommunications ($1.59 billion), computer software and hardware ($1.4 billion), and power ($969 million).

Singapore was the largest source of FDI during first quarter of FY19 with $6.52 billion, followed by Mauritius ($1.5 billion), Japan ($874 million), the Netherlands ($836 million), the UK ($648 million), and the US ($348 million). A growth in foreign investment assumes significance against the backdrop of widening current account deficit and trade deficit.

Besides, FDI had increased at a five-year low growth of 3% at $44.85 billion in 2017-18. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) report had stated that the foreign direct investment in India decreased to $40 billion in 2017 from $44 billion in 2016 fiscal. A decline in foreign inflows could put pressure on the country’s balance of payments and may also impact the value of the rupee.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11728.45, up by 36.50 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 11710.50 and 11760.20. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.06%, NTPC up by 1.90%, Tata Motors up by 1.56%, Cipla up by 1.46% and Maruti Suzuki was up by 1.44%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 2.51%, Titan Co down by 2.01%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.02%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.78% and Hindustan Unilever was down by 0.76% were the top losers.

All Asian market were trading in green; Hang Seng rose 56.43 points or 0.2% to 28,327.70, Shanghai Composite gained 0.08 points to 2,780.98, Jakarta Composite strengthened 14.39 points or 0.24% to 6,040.36, Straits Times surged 30.78 points or 0.95% to 3,256.40, Taiwan Weighted advanced 80.66 points or 0.73% to 10,982.87, KOSPI soared 2.48 points or 0.11% to 2,301.78 and Nikkei 225 was up by 48.55 points or 0.21% to 22,848.19.