Markets hold gains in afternoon deals

Indian equity benchmarks held their gains in afternoon session, on sustained buying by domestic institutional investors, despite weak Asian cues. Sentiments remained positive with report that India’s economy grew at two-year high of 8.2 per cent in the April-June quarter of 2018-19 on strong performance of manufacturing and agriculture sectors, increasing its lead over China to remain the world’s fastest growing major economy. The sentiments were also supported by 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. Besides, the rupee’s recovery from its record low against the dollar too supported the market. However, gains remained capped with report showing that growth in India's manufacturing sector unexpectedly slowed in August as domestic demand softened. On the sectoral front, auto stocks remained in limelight as companies report their sales number. Bajaj Auto has registered a rise of 30% in total sales to 437,092 units in August 2018 against 335,031 units in August 2017.

On the global front, Asian counters were trading in red, on worries about further escalation of the US-China trade war and unstable emerging market currencies. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38724.17, up by 79.10 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 38671.33 and 38934.35. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.75%, while Small cap index was up by 0.75%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.27%, Metal up by 1.12%, Consumer Durables up by 1.11%, Industrials up by 0.92% and Telecom up by 0.78%, while Realty down by 0.42%, Bankex down by 0.26%, FMCG down by 0.16% and Utilities down by 0.03% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 4.79%, Sun Pharma up by 2.16%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.34%, Tata Steel up by 1.19% and Reliance Industries up by 1.07%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.47%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.45%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.21%, Axis Bank down by 1.16% and ICICI Bank down by 0.92% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Bank’s non-food credit has registered double-digit growth of 10.6 percent in July 2018 as compared to 5.3 percent in the same period last year, led by loans to the services sector growing at a faster clip. According to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), credit to the services sector grew 23 percent for the reporting period, up from the year-ago period’s 4.9 percent. It noted that the data includes performance of 41 scheduled commercial banks, accounting for about 90 per cent of the total non-food credit deployed.

Data further highlighted that credit to industry rose 0.3 percent, with sub-sectors such as infrastructure, textiles, chemicals, food processing and engineering showing acceleration, while loans to basic metal and metal products, petroleum, coal products and nuclear fuels, cement and cement products and paper and paper products dropped. It also showed that personal loans continued to grow at 16.7 percent in July 2018, up from a growth of 15 percent in July 2017, with consumer durables and credit cards showing strongest growth. The apex bank also released quarterly data on deposits and credit, which pointed out a deceleration in rural credit growth in the April-June 2018 period to 8.3 percent from 12.3 percent in the year-ago period and 13 percent in the preceding quarter.

As per to the data, bank credit growth in the June quarter was led by metropolitan branches which witnessed a four-year high in credit growth, accounting for 64 percent of the overall lending. It noted that private sector banks continued to lead deposit mobilisation, while state-run lenders showed a modest pick-up in growth in deposits and foreign banks showed a moderation in deposit growth. It added that two-thirds of the total business for banks came from seven states - Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11705.10, up by 24.60 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 11680.65 and 11751.80. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 4.66%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 3.38%, Eicher Motors up by 3.09%, Titan Co up by 2.59% and Sun Pharma up by 2.07%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.59%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.57%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.45%, NTPC down by 1.40% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.34% were the top losers.

All the Asian counters were trading in red; Straits Times decreased 12.89 points or 0.4% to 3,200.59, Taiwan Weighted dipped 99.72 points or 0.91% to 10,964.22, Jakarta Composite decreased 45.37 points or 0.76% to 5,973.09, Hang Seng fell 223.57 points or 0.81% to 27,664.98, Shanghai Composite shed 4.09 points or 0.15% to 2,721.16, Nikkei 225 decreased 157.77 points or 0.69% to 22,707.38 and KOSPI dropped 15.85 points or 0.69% to 2,307.03.