Key benchmarks back in green

Indian benchmarks erased all the losses to regain green terrain in afternoon session with Sensex and Nifty trading at 35019.59 and 10528.70 respectively. Buying in frontline blue chip stocks such as Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever and Bharti Airtel adding sentiment, while ONGC, Vedanta and Tata Steel were on the losing side. Some encouragement came with a private report that India will focus on boosting its exports to the U.S. and other global markets as Chinese shipments become unattractive amid a trade war between the world’s biggest economies. Some solace came with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) report that the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $568.9 million to $393.580 billion in the week to November 16, mainly due to a spurt in foreign currency assets

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as investors tentatively pick up cheap stocks, with focus on an expected meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at the weekend that will be watched for signs of a softening in the China-US trade war. Back home, a private report stated that the ongoing trade war between China and the US is pushing the Asian powerhouse to sweeten ties with neighboring India. China’s refiners are considering the purchase of unprecedented amounts of Indian raw sugar, with a delegation visiting the South Asian nation next month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35019.59, up by 38.57 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 34896.07 and 35184.93. There were 14 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.34%, while Small cap index was down by 0.46%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.98%, FMCG up by 0.87%, Capital Goods up by 0.40%, Bankex up by 0.21% and Consumer Discretionary was up by 0.16%, while Metal down by 2.58%, Basic Materials down by 1.33%, PSU down by 1.01%, Healthcare down by 0.92%, Utilities was down by 0.89% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 2.69%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.46%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.18%, Indusind Bank up by 1.42% and HDFC Bank was up by 1.35%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 4.99%, ONGC down by 4.11%, Vedanta down by 3.83%, Tata Steel down by 2.83% and Coal India was down by 2.78% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has stated that it is expecting India’s economy to grow close to 7.5% in 2019 and 2020 as higher oil prices and rupee depreciation put pressure on demand and inflation. India’s GDP at market prices to grow 7.3% in 2019 and 7.4% in 2020 from 7.5% in 2018. It also said that the growth is likely be slow down in 2019 and 2020 mainly on account of tighter financial conditions, higher oil prices, adverse terms of trade, lower growth in partner countries, and rising political uncertainties in India and abroad.

It said that monetary policy will need to be tightened as inflation expectations are trending up and there are several upside risks to inflation. Moreover, it praised the Reserve Bank’s credibility in targeting inflation and said “the projected marginal increases in policy rates will help anchor inflation”.

Besides, on the trade front, it noted that the hike in US tariffs on Chinese imports could benefit India’s exports particularly in the textile sector. Additionally, it has projected global GDP growth to slow from 3.7% in 2018 to 3.5% in 2019-2020.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10528.70, up by 1.95 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 10489.75 and 10584.95. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 2.83%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.58%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.26%, HPCL up by 1.89% and BPCL was up by 1.53%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 5.01%, ONGC down by 4.24%, Vedanta down by 3.83%, Tata Steel down by 2.84% and Coal India was down by 2.82% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted increased 98.06 points or 1% to 9,765.36, KOSPI surged 25.54 points or 1.23% to 2,083.02, Hang Seng soared 388.13 points or 1.47% to 26,315.81, Nikkei 225 gained 165.45 points or 0.76% to 21,812.00, Straits Times advanced 22.52 points or 0.73% to 3,075.01 and Jakarta Composite was up by 0.62 points or 0.01% to 6,006.82. On the flip side Shanghai Composite was down by 7.03 points or 0.27% to 2,572.45.