Key gauges continue to trade in green

Benchmark equity indices continue to hold their fort in green, with Sensex and Nifty garnering gains of around quarter a percent, despite weak Asian clues. Indices like IT, Capital Goods and Healthcare were, as usual, inched higher with the up-move on the benchmarks. Among heavy-weights Wipro, Adani Ports and Sun Pharma exhibited a smart performance. Investors took encouragement from Controller General of Accounts’ (CGA) report that the direct tax collections grew by a meagre 6.6 per cent during April-July of the current financial year against the Budget target of 14.4 per cent for 2018-19. The growth was in comparison with the corresponding period of the last three years. Traders also remained optimistic with a report that the growth rate will be affected in next reading, but India would remain world’s fastest-growing major economy. India’s economy grew at 8.2 per cent in the April-June quarter of 2018-19 on strong performance of manufacturing and agriculture sectors. Meanwhile, traders shrugged off India’s core sector output grew at a slower pace of 6.6% in July 2018, from 7.6% in June 2018, on the back of sharp decline in crude oil and natural gas production.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red, as buyers get squeezed out of indexes by the US-China trade conflict, with emerging markets remaining unstable. The US public commenting period on a 25% tariff on approximately $200 billion worth of Chinese goods will be ending on Thursday. Back home, in scrip specific development, HPCL gained on finalizing 10 licensors for Rs 43,130 crore Rajasthan refinery. Besides, Eicher Motors surged on its motorcycle division reporting 2% rise in August sales.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38741.48, up by 96.41 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 38671.33 and 38934.35. There were 22 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.63%, while Small cap index was up by 0.67%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.16%, TECK up by 1.04%, Capital Goods up by 1.04%, Healthcare up by 1.03% and Consumer Durables was up by 1.02%, while Realty down by 0.55%, Energy down by 0.23%, Oil & Gas down by 0.20%, Bankex down by 0.17% and Utilities was down by 0.10% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 4.59%, Adani Ports up by 1.81%, Sun Pharma up by 1.66%, Infosys up by 1.35% and Bajaj Auto was up by 1.30%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.95%, Axis Bank down by 0.86%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.85%, ICICI Bank down by 0.83% and NTPC was down by 0.79% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) in its latest data has showed that the country’s fiscal deficit in the first four months of current financial year (FY19) came in at Rs 5,40,257 crore or 86.5% of the FY19 Budget target. The country’s fiscal deficit for FY19 is budgeted at 3.3% of the GDP against the actual of 3.5% in FY18. Though this appeared to be inconsistent with the fiscal consolidation plan, the situation was still better than the year-ago period when the deficit had touched 92.4% of the annual target.

Budgetary capital expenditure in April-July 2018, stood at Rs 1,11,337 crore, 17% higher than the year-ago period and 37.1% of the full-year target, indicating the continued heavy reliance on public investments for growth amid scarce evidence of a much-awaited recovery in private investments. The pace of overall spending has been marginally slower so far this year than the year-ago period, on account of revenue spending squeeze. The Centre’s total expenditure was Rs 8.9 lakh crore or 36.4% of the FY19 target, compared to 37.7% of the target in the corresponding period last year.

In first four months (April-July) of the current financial year, India’s Centre’s tax revenue (net of transfers to states) stood at Rs 2.93 lakh crore or 19.8% of the FY19 Budget estimate (BE), as compared to 21% of the corresponding target in the year-ago period.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11708.50, up by 28.00 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 11680.65 and 11751.80. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 4.75%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 3.11%, Lupin up by 2.27%, Eicher Motors up by 2.04% and Adani Ports was up by 1.91%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 1.33%, GAIL India down by 1.21%, NTPC down by 1.11%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.07% and Hindustan Unilever was down by 1.02% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red, Straits Times slipped 12.45 points or 0.39% to 3,201.03, Taiwan Weighted dropped 96.79 points or 0.88% to 10,967.15, Hang Seng lost 263.56 points or 0.95% to 27,624.99, Shanghai Composite fell 25.59 points or 0.95% to 2,699.66, Jakarta Composite declined 48.27 points or 0.81% to 5,970.19, Nikkei 225 decreased 156.35 points or 0.69% to 22,708.80 and KOSPI was down by 20.53 points or 0.89% to 2,302.35.