Benchmarks continue to show positive trend

Indian equity benchmarks continued to show a positive trend in early noon session, with frontline gauges Nifty and Sensex gaining more than 30 and 100 points, respectively. Investors took encouragement with report that the upheaval in oil prices and the rupee was due to global factors, and the government will not take any decision out of panic that could be misconstrued as a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction. Traders were taking note of Narayana Murthy’s statement that Prime Minister’s emphasis on Make in India is very good. But have to reduce the friction to Indian entrepreneurs and foreign companies to start new manufacturing entities in India as manufacturing has considerable scope for even semi-illiterates and illiterates too. Some support came with ICRA’s report that sharp depreciation in the Indian rupee may help the domestic steel industry lower imports and boost exports in the coming months. Accordingly, this is likely to improve the country's overall steel trade balance. Investors shrugged off private report that the Indian rupee’s real bugbear is the price of oil. India’s currency had its worst month in three years in August as crude rallied on speculation sanctions on Iran will shrink global supplies.

On the global front, Asian markets were mostly trading in red, as concerns about contagion from emerging markets fray investor nerves, while sentiment is also being dampened by the possibility of further US tariffs on China. Back home, on scrip specific development Tata Motors gained on launching limited edition Nexon KRAZ. Besides, HUDCO surged on reporting 2-fold jump in Q1 net profit.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38131.32, up by 113.01 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 37983.15 and 38193.18. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.45%, while Small cap index up by 0.44%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.32%, Utilities up by 1.27%, Power up by 1.27%, Energy up by 0.81%, PSU was up by 0.63%, while Telecom down by 0.35%, TECK down by 0.23%, Consumer Disc was down by 0.02% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 2.95%, Tata Steel up by 1.78%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.55%, Coal India up by 1.19% and Reliance Industries was up by 1.08%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.24%, Axis Bank down by 0.91%, Vedanta down by 0.78%, TCS down by 0.47% and Maruti Suzuki was down by 0.39% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu has said that the new industrial policy, which is set to be announced soon, would help link domestic industry with the global supply chain. He also said that the auto component industry has successfully used this linkage to promote sectoral growth. He said “we are coming out soon with the new industrial policy. We are giving final touches to it. It has many components. One key element is how do you link industry with global supply chains.”

The minister stated that the new policy will replace the industrial policy of 1991 which was prepared in the backdrop of balance of payment crisis. He also noted that the proposed policy aims at promoting emerging sectors and modernizing the existing industries. Apart from this, he said it will look to reduce regulatory hurdles and encourage adoption of frontier technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence. Besides, he said that his ministry in August last year had floated a draft industrial policy with an aim to create jobs for the next two decades, promote foreign technology transfer and attract $100 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) annually.

Prabhu said that the ministry is looking at ways to increase exports of auto components. He also said that the ministry is preparing a plan in order to deal with the hurdles of logistics related issues. Moreover, he expressed hopes that India will become $5 trillion economy in the coming years, of which $1 trillion would come from manufacturing. Besides, he also urged the auto industry to participate in this growth.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11507.30, up by 30.35 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 11459.50 and 11524.45. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 2.63%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.89%, HPCL up by 1.88%, Tata Steel up by 1.68% and Kotak Mahindra Bank was up by 1.60%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 6.29%, Hindalco down by 1.52%, Axis Bank down by 1.08%, ONGC down by 0.89% and Bajaj Finance was down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Asian markets were mostly trading in red, Straits Times fell 11.08 points or 0.35% to 3,145.20, Taiwan Weighted declined 63.03 points or 0.58% to 10,932.10, Hang Seng lost 312.33 points or 1.16% to 26,931.52, Shanghai Composite tumbled 2.68 points or 0.1% to 2,701.66, KOSPI slipped 2.08 points or 0.09% to 2,289.69 and Nikkei 225 was down by 88.05 points or 0.39% to 22,492.78.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite was up by 7.64 points or 0.13% to 5,691.14.