Indian markets maintain upward momentum

Indian equity markets maintained their upward momentum in the early noon session following gains in Bankex, Healthcare and FMCG stocks. Healthy buying was observed in blue-chip stocks like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Coal India, Axis Bank, HCL Tech and Eicher Motors among others. In stock specific movement, HDFC Bank surged on reporting 21% rise in Q2 net profit and Bhageria Industries gained on reporting around 3-fold jump in Q2 net profit. Besides, appreciation in Indian rupee too supported the sentiments. Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry extended the deadline for filing summary sales return GSTR-3B for the month of September by five days to October 25. However, gains remained limited, as traders were concerned with a report stating that India lost one spot to rank as the 9th most valuable nation brand in the world, falling for the second consecutive year in the list of most valuable nation brands, despite its brand value rising 5% from the previous year.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green as Chinese shares built on a Friday rally after calls for calm from the country’s top finance officials. Back home, stocks related to airlines were in focus with a private report stating that domestic airlines will operate 22 percent more flights during the winter schedule 2018 with 23,117 departures a week as compared with the winter schedule of 2017.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34403.67, up by 88.04 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 34317.91 and 34748.69. There were 19 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.04%, while Small cap index was down by 1.08%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.19%, Healthcare up by 0.63%, FMCG up by 0.47%, Utilities up by 0.36% and Auto was up by 0.05%, while Energy down by 1.40%, Oil & Gas down by 1.39%, Basic Materials down by 0.97%, Realty down by 0.70% and IT down by 0.57% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.84%, HDFC Bank up by 1.74%, SBI up by 1.40%, Coal India up by 1.31% and Axis Bank up by 1.12%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.61%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.34%, Yes Bank down by 2.20%, Indusind Bank down by 1.94% and Tata Motors down by 1.60% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, industry body Aluminium Association of India (AAI) has indicated that India's aluminium scrap import rose 21.44 percent to 6,57,000 tonnes during April-September period of financial year 2018-19 (H1FY19). It noted that aluminium scrap import had stood at 541,000 tonne during H1FY18. In July, it had urged the government to increase the duty on imports of aluminium scrap as the domestic sector may become victim of escalating trade war between the US and China.

The association has showed that in the first quarter of 2018-19 financial year ending June 30, aluminium scrap import was at 3,12,000 tonnes, up 24 percent from 2,51,000 tonnes in the April-June quarter of 2017-18 fiscal.  It also noted that the import of aluminium scrap grew 19 percent to 3,45,000 tonnes during the quarter ended September, from 2,90,000 tonne in the year-ago-period.

AAI further said that the government must take immediate steps to restrict the import of low quality scrap. It is a major threat posing the industry. It pointed out that aluminium is required by the industries like automobile, construction, consumer goods, etc which are on a growth trajectory in India. It noted that one can imagine the life of the products which is made up of substandard raw material. It said “We have suggested an increase in the duty to 10 per cent on scrap from the current 2.5 per cent. We also want quantitative restrictions to be put in place.” It has also been demanding an increase in import duty on primary aluminium to 10 percent from current 7.5 percent

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10318.30, up by 14.75 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 10289.70 and 10408.55. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing up by 9.25%, HCL Tech up by 2.85%, ICICI Bank up by 2.81%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.31% and Eicher Motors up by 2.19%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 3.35%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.77%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 2.18%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.10% and ONGC down by 2.09% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Straits Times increased 9.44 points or 0.31% to 3,071.95, Nikkei 225 surged 82.74 points or 0.37% to 22,614.82, Taiwan Weighted advanced 55.02 points or 0.55% to 9,974.28, Hang Seng soared 563.190 points or 2.16% to 26,124.59, Shanghai Composite increased 112.28 points or 4.22% to 2,662.75 and KOSPI was up 3.90 points or 0.18% to 2,160.16.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite was down 1.05 points or 0.02% to 5,836.24.