Stock markets trade in fine fettle; Nifty above 11,000 mark

Stock markets were trading in fine fettle in the early noon session due to heavy buying in Energy, Bankex and Oil & Gas sectors. Positive global cues and strengthening of rupee buoyed the domestic sentiments. Fresh buying of shares worth Rs 552.44 crore by foreign institutional investors on September 27 also aided the uptrend. Besides, SBI, HDFC and Asian Paints were contributing the most to Sensex, while SBI, GAIL India and HDFC were contributing the most to Nifty. Furthermore, some support came with private report stating that rates on short-term paper eased after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided to free up funds for the commercial banks to tide over the present liquidity crunch. Adding to the optimism, CRISIL Research’s report highlighted that revenues of corporates are expected to log a robust 12.1% year-on-year growth in the second quarter of FY 2019, nearly twice the 6.4% growth in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal. Meanwhile, the broader markets continued to trade in red, underperforming their larger peers.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green. Japan was trading higher as risk appetite bounced on the back of confidence in the US economy, while hopes of improved earnings for Japan Inc. underpinned the sentiments. Back on the domestic turf, stocks related to aviation sector remain in limelight as Finance Ministry said that the government’s move to levy 5 percent import duty on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) is unlikely to push airfares higher as bulk of the fuel is produced by domestic refineries.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36492.66, up by 168.49 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 36208.01 and 36511.39. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.21%, while Small cap index was down by 1.21%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 0.80%, Bankex up by 0.68%, Oil & Gas up by 0.57%, PSU up by 0.39% and Utilities up by 0.39%, while Metal down by 3.20%, Basic Materials down by 1.76%, Realty down by 1.66%, Telecom down by 1.24% and Capital Goods down by 0.63% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 2.58%, HDFC up by 1.75%, Asian Paints up by 1.61%, Tata Motors up by 1.29% and Reliance Industries up by 1.21%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 6.18%, Vedanta down by 3.99%, Tata Steel down by 3.35%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.88% and Bharti Airtel down by 2.26% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Ministry has said that the government’s move to levy 5 percent import duty on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) is unlikely to push airfares higher as bulk of the fuel is produced by domestic refineries. It said “When we did the exercise of looking at how many items are essential and how many are non-essential, we also looked at whether their capacity in India is available for that item.”

The Ministry has stated that this is the result of the scrutiny of all the items that it has done and also has to look at every small measure to conserve the balance of payments. With regard to ATF, it said that India is not short of jet fuel and the total usage of the fuel was worth Rs 30,000 crore last year. It also pointed out that the import last year was worth Rs 1,100 crore and a 5 per cent duty on that would be a miniscule Rs 55 crore. So, the imposition of duty may not impact airline fares.

The government has hiked customs duties on as many as 19 items, including jet fuel, ACs and refrigerators as it aims to curb imports of non-essential goods. The other items include washing machines, speakers, radial car tyres, jewellery items, kitchen and tableware, certain plastic goods, and suitcases

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11010.45, up by 32.90 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 10920.75 and 11034.10. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 2.64%, GAIL India up by 1.88%, HDFC up by 1.84%, Wipro up by 1.77% and HPCL up by 1.70%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 6.17%, JSW Steel down by 4.87%, Indiabulls Housing down by 4.55%, Vedanta down by 4.11% and Tata Steel down by 3.74% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite increased 19.82 points or 0.33% to 5,949.04, Straits Times advanced 22.30 points or 0.68% to 3,258.56, Hang Seng soared 50.48 points or 0.18% to 27,766.15, Shanghai Composite surged 20.63 points or 0.73% to 2,812.40 and Nikkei 225 was up 323.30 points or 1.34% to 24,120.04.

On the other hand, KOSPI decreased 14.84 points or 0.63% to 2,340.59 and Taiwan Weighted was down 27.85 points or 0.25% to 11,006.34.