Local equities add gains in morning session

Local equity benchmarks added gains in morning session, with Sensex gaining around quarter a percent and Nifty trading above 10,400 level. Capital Goods, Industrials and Realty have elevated with gains on their respective front line stocks. Larsen & Toubro, Yes Bank and Tata Motors were the prime gainers among heavy-weights, pushing Sensex higher. Traders took note of Industry chamber FICCI’s statement that more measures are needed to make adequate liquidity available in the system and strengthen the financial sector for attaining 8% plus gross domestic product (GDP) growth. Some comfort came with a report stating that India witnessed a 23-notch jump to a record 77th position in the World Bank’s latest report on the ease of doing business that captured the performance of 190 countries. However, gains remained capped with a private report stating that India, which is the second-most populated nation in the country and on the verge of becoming the youngest country, will start ageing in next 15 years. This 15-year window is the best time to create job opportunities and capitalize on country’s rich demographic dividend.

On the global front, Asian market were trading mostly in green, tracking another rally on Wall Street, with Hong Kong and Shanghai leading the way following a Chinese pledge to support the world's number two economy. Back on domestic turf, on the sectoral front, pharmaceutical industries stocks fell, despite India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report said that pharmaceutical industry in India is likely to register higher margins in Q2 (July- September) of 2018-19 on a year-on-year basis, on the back of rupee’s depreciation against the US dollar.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34533.53, up by 91.48 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 34382.55 and 34679.93. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.11%, while Small cap index was up by 1.19%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 4.14%, Industrials up by 2.73%, Realty up by 1.82%, Basic Materials up by 1.26% and Metal was up by 1.22%, while IT down by 1.19%, TECK down by 1.10%, FMCG down by 0.56% and Utilities was down by 0.14% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 5.06%, Yes Bank up by 4.73%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.93%, Tata Motors up by 2.60% and Tata Steel was up by 1.96%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 1.48%, NTPC down by 1.35%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.26%, TCS down by 1.12% and Infosys was down by 1.09% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to really improve overall economic growth and community well being, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said India will need around $4.5 trillion till 2040 for development of infrastructure sector in the country. He further stated that there is an urgent need to restructure entire existing public private partnership (PPP) framework as there are delays in completion of infrastructure projects due to disputes.

Besides, he pointed out that the government has been focussing on the infrastructure sector. Track record of the last four years has shown that all spending in the infrastructure sector across railways, airports and road came from the government.

Additionally, Kant said India is growing at the rate of 7.5% per annum and challenge is to grow at higher rates. Therefore, the country needs to focus on building quality infrastructure.  He also highlighted that the cost of transportation in India is very high. Besides, he noted that there is a pressing need of leveraging alternate and newer source of financing of infrastructure projects.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10403.20, up by 16.60 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 10357.70 and 10441.90. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 5.24%, Yes Bank up by 4.70%, Tata Motors up by 3.10%, HPCL up by 2.90% and Indiabulls Housing Finance was up by 2.62%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 2.94%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.25%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.99%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.76% and Cipla was down by 1.53% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Taiwan Weighted gained 35.21 points or 0.36% to 9,837.34, Hang Seng surged 461.08 points or 1.81% to 25,440.77, KOSPI soared 9.07 points or 0.44% to 2,038.76, Shanghai Composite advanced 29.44 points or 1.12% to 2,632.22, Straits Times increased 35.08 points or 1.15% to 3,053.88 and Jakarta Composite was up by 1.11 points or 0.02% to 5,832.76.

On the other hand, Nikkei 225 was down by 183.71 points or 0.85% to 21,736.75.