Indian markets manage to trade in positive terrain

Indian equity markets managed to trade in green terrain in the early noon session as investors found some support in FMCG, IT and TECK sector stocks. Building up of fresh positions by domestic institutional investors ahead of IIP data for July and inflation data for August to be released later in the day, provided some support to the domestic sentiments. Besides, some relief came with Finance Ministry’s statement that the decision to double the limit to Rs 20 lakh for filing applications in debt recovery tribunals will help them focus on high value matters leading to quicker recovery of bad loans. However, there was some level of cautiousness in the street due to lingering worries over US-China trade dispute. Selling in Realty, PSU and Auto stocks were also limiting the upward move. Sentiments were slightly negative on report that Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 1454.36 crore on September 11, 2018, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. Meanwhile, the Mid-cap and small cap indices were underperforming their larger peers.

On the global front, most of the Asian counters were trading in red. Japan's Nikkei fell as chip-related stocks tracked weakness in their US counterparts overnight and as machine tool makers weakened after downbeat industry data. Back home, in the scrip specific developments, Fiberweb India gained on bagging export orders worth Rs 25.3 crore and A2Z Infra Engineering surged on bagging order worth Rs 94.87 crore.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37481.35, up by 68.22 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 37370.14 and 37638.16. There were 16 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 0.58%, while Small cap index down by 0.83%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.47%, IT up by 0.51% and TECK up by 0.37%, while Realty down by 1.37%, PSU down by 0.79%, Auto down by 0.72%, Consumer Disc down by 0.70% and Oil & Gas down by 0.65% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 2.11%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.04%, Adani Ports up by 1.59%, ITC up by 1.53% and Wipro up by 1.33%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.61%, Tata Motors down by 2.32%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.90%, ICICI Bank down by 1.59% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.37% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the commerce ministry has said India and Russia discussed ways to increase economic cooperation in areas such as mining and geological exploration in gold and diamond, water cooperation, forestry, timber and agriculture. In order to explore areas of cooperation, the commerce minister invited regional governors of the Far East to visit India with business delegations. 

Presently, Suresh Prabhu is in Vladivostok, Russia, to attend the Far Eastern Economic Forum being held from September 11-13. New initiatives from the Russian Federation and changing neighbourhood dynamics have increased the need for India to evaluate the opportunities available in the Far East of Russia.

India was the first country to establish a resident consulate in Vladivostok in 1992. However, India’s existing engagement with the region is limited to isolated pockets. In order to bolster the trade ties it is imperative that connectivity between India and Vladivostok have to be simplified, affordable and time efficient. The commerce ministry said that ease of connectivity will not only provide access to the resource rich, unexplored Far East but will also strengthen India’s geo-political stature.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11301.90, up by 14.40 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 11264.25 and 11340.10. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.08%, Power Grid up by 1.98%, ITC up by 1.78%, Adani Ports up by 1.60% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.26%. On the flip side, HPCL down by 3.18%, BPCL down by 2.74%, Tata Motors down by 2.62%, Indian Oil down by 2.55% and Axis Bank down by 2.35% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 15.67 points or 0.06% to 26,406.88, KOSPI declined 4.02 points or 0.18% to 2,279.18, Taiwan Weighted slipped 29.73 points or 0.28% to 10,722.57 and Nikkei 225 was down 60.08 points or 0.27% to 22,604.61.

On the other hand, Straits Times increased 2.63 points or 0.08% to 3,112.54, Shanghai Composite surged 6.52 points or 0.24% to 2,671.32 and Jakarta Composite was up 21.78 points or 0.37% to 5,852.90.