Indian bourses continue to trade in positive territory

Key benchmark indices continued to trade in positive territory in afternoon session, amid strong global cues due to softening crude oil prices. Sentiments remained positive with Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Sushil Chandra’s statement that direct tax collection has already crossed Rs 5 lakh crore that is 44% of the net direct tax collection target and will exceed the budgeted target of Rs 11.5 crore set for the current fiscal. He further highlighted that so far the I-T department has issued refunds to 2.15 crore assessees amounting to Rs 1.15 lakh crore and from now onwards the net collections will increase. Some solace also came with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) calling for a change in regulations to improve access to credit for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), which the lobby group says are facing increased risk of financial stress due to a liquidity crunch in the market. On the sectoral front, steel sector remained in focus with the Centre committed to bringing in all steel products under the quality regime. The government has already brought 53 steel products consumed in the country under the quality control order (QCO), representing around 85 per cent of the total steel products.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, cheered by a bounce in Chinese equities on signs China and the United States may be taking steps to de-escalate their bitter trade dispute, while oil prices resumed their retreat on fears of oversupply. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35293.59, up by 151.60 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 35118.42 and 35318.55. There were 27 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.30%, while Small cap index was up by 0.08%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.50%, IT up by 1.12%, TECK up by 0.92%, Realty up by 0.87% and Industrials up by 0.83%, while Telecom down by 0.75%, Energy down by 0.35%, Basic Materials down by 0.31% and Oil & Gas down by 0.23% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports &SEZ up by 3.47%, Tata Motors up by 2.71%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.52%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.01% and Infosys up by 1.55%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 8.00%, Sun Pharma down by 0.93%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.40% and Reliance Industries down by 0.39% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a bid to cater to needs and aspirations of the youth, the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) under the agriculture ministry has launched a youth-friendly scheme ‘Yuva Sahakar-Cooperative Enterprise Support and Innovation Scheme’ for attracting them to cooperative business ventures. It will be linked to NCDC’s Cooperative Startup and Innovation Fund (CSIF) that has an annual corpus of Rs 1000 crore.

The scheme would have more incentives for cooperatives of North Eastern region, aspirational districts and cooperatives with women members, schedule castes, schedule tribes or people with disabilities. The funding for the project will be up to 80% of the project cost for these special categories as against 70% for others. The scheme envisages 2% less than the applicable rate of interest on term loan for the project cost up to Rs 3 crore including 2 years moratorium on payment of principal. All types of cooperatives in operation for at least one year are eligible.  This scheme is expected to meet the needs of today’s youth.

 The NCDC, being the most preferred financial institution in the world of cooperatives, has embarked on Sahakar 22, a Mission for Doubling Farmers’ Income by 2022. It has the unique distinction of being the sole statutory organisation functioning as an apex financial and developmental institution exclusively devoted to cooperative sector. It supports cooperatives in diverse fields apart from agriculture and allied sectors.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10614.80, up by 38.50 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 10557.50 and 10624.90. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports &SEZ up by 3.16%, Titan Co up by 2.78%, Tata Motors up by 2.69%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.49% and Hero MotoCorp up by 2.24%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 7.96%, Grasim Industries down by 7.57%, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 4.06%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.76% and Sun Pharma down by 0.88% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 333.50 points or 1.28% to 25,987.93, Straits Times was up by 10.86 points or 0.36% to 3,054.05, KOSPI rose 15.12 points or 0.73% to 2,083.17, Shanghai Composite surged 30.59 points or 1.15% to 2,662.83, Taiwan Weighted added 34.58 points or 0.35% to 9,826.46 and Jakarta Composite increased 68.61 points or 1.16% to 5,926.90.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 42.86 points or 0.2% to 21,803.62.