Local equities add gains in morning deals

Local equity benchmarks added some more gains on the streets in the morning deals on account of buying in front line counters. Sensex and Nifty eked out around one percent gain, after intense buying thronged in IndusInd Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra. Likewise, Basic Materials, Auto and Metal have also elevated with gains on their respective front line stocks. Traders took encouragement with a report that Saudi Arabia committed to meeting India’s rising oil demand and said it is keen to invest in fuel retailing and petrochemical business in the world’s fastest-growing energy consumer. Market participants remained optimistic with Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s report that India’s trade deficit in September narrowed to lowest in the last five months since the imports growth slowed even as exports fell marginally during the month. September trade deficit fell to $13.98 billion. The traders overlooked a private report that merchandise exports witnessed the worst contraction in 26 months in September despite a weak rupee, thanks mainly to an unfavourable base.

On the global front, Asian market were trading mixed, as market attempting a rebound after recording losses in the previous session, despite the weak cues overnight from Wall Street and as investors shift focus to upcoming corporate earnings results. Back home, on the sectoral front, power industry stocks were buzzing on the D-street, despite a report state that rise in diesel prices is driving power plants running on this fuel to lower their electricity generation levels. Electricity production from the 837 MW of diesel-run power plants fallen by 37% y-o-y to less than 80 million units (MUs) in April-September.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35176.81, up by 311.71 points or 0.89% after trading in a range of 34913.06 and 35190.31. There were 24 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.97%, while Small cap index was up by 1.77%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Basic Materials up by 1.89%, Auto up by 1.43%, Bankex up by 1.37%, Consumer Disc up by 1.36% and Metal up was by 1.33%, while there were no losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.53%, Indusind Bank up by 3.47%, ONGC up by 2.47%, ICICI Bank up by 2.33% and Tata Steel was up by 1.98%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 0.98%, Sun Pharma down by 0.54%, TCS down by 0.32%, NTPC down by 0.18% and Coal India was down by 0.16% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the capital markets regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) latest data showed that Indian listed companies fund raising through private placement of corporate bonds declined sharply by 37.96% in April-September period of current fiscal year (H1FY19).

According to the data, companies listed on the BSE and NSE garnered Rs 2.01 lakh crore from debt on a private placement basis in the first six months of FY19 as compared to Rs 3.24 lakh crore raised in April-September period of 2017-18. In terms of numbers, 1,173 issues were made in April-September this fiscal, as compared to 1,459 in the year-ago period.

The data showed that the funds have been raised mainly for business expansion, to support working capital requirements and retire their existing debt. In private placement of bonds, firms issue securities or bonds to institutional investors to raise capital. In the entire 2017-18 fiscal, the capital raked in through the route stood at Rs 6 lakh crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10596.80, up by 84.30 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 10525.30 and 10600.15. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 3.63%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.48%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.60%, ICICI Bank up by 2.41% and ONGC was up by 2.31%. On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 1.67%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.34%, Cipla down by 0.91%, Wipro down by 0.77% and HCL Tech was down by 0.63% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading mixed, KOSPI gained 1.27 points or 0.06% to 2,146.39, Taiwan Weighted rose 13.93 points or 0.14% to 9,915.05, Nikkei 225 surged 139.91 points or 0.62% to 22,411.21 and Jakarta Composite was up by 9.22 points or 0.16% to 5,736.48.

On the other side, Straits Times slipped 12.37 points or 0.41% to 3,033.60, Hang Seng fell 14.93 points or 0.06% to 25,430.13 and Shanghai Composite was down by 3.86 points or 0.15% to 2,564.24.