Sensex, Nifty trade in green terrain

Key Indian benchmarks were trading in green terrain, mirroring firm European markets. In line with the larger peers, the broader markets too maintained their gaining momentum in late noon deals, with strong gains of over a percent, while Yes Bank emerged as the top gainer among all other major leaders on the BSE. Gains led by Consumer Durables, Healthcare and FMCG stocks, also provided support to the markets. Some relief came after the government made the entire 60% of the corpus withdrawn at the time of retirement tax free. Traders took note of Former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian’s statement that the inclusion of petrol and diesel in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) ambit is not possible until the revenues under the new tax regime stabilize.

On the sectoral front, stocks related to tourism industry were trading mixed, despite reports that the Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed in New Delhi a Loan Agreement for $31 million to build-up the State Tourism Industry and boost visitor arrivals, while stocks of port sector remained in limelight, with data report released by Ministry of Shipping which showed that the major ports in India have recorded a growth of 4.83% and together handled 461.21 million tonnes of cargo during the period April to November, 2018 as against 439.96 million tonnes handled during the corresponding period of previous year.

On the global front, European markets were in green, as Germany's merchandise exports grew more-than-expected in October and at the fastest pace in five months. The preliminary figures from Destatis showed that exports increased a calendar ad seasonally adjusted 0.7 percent from September, when they declined 0.4 percent. Asian markets were trading mixed, with investors cheering reports that Chinese Vice Premier Liu, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer have discussed trade issues despite a diplomatic row over the arrest of a senior Chinese businesswoman.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35153.01, up by 193.29 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 34426.29 and 35199.40. There were 23 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.54%, while Small cap index was up by 1.30%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 2.21%, Healthcare up by 1.98%, FMCG up by 1.64%, Consumer Disc up by 1.61% and IT up by 1.46%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.12% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 6.20%, Sun Pharma up by 5.68%, Asian Paints up by 4.09%, Axis Bank up by 2.55% and SBI up by 2.36%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 1.29%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.24%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 0.85%, ICICI Bank down by 0.75% and HDFC down by 0.32% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, highlighting the need of improvement in the new tax regime, Former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian has said that the inclusion of petrol and diesel in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) ambit is not possible until the revenues under the new tax regime stabilise and added that there will be need to have enough other revenues to cushion for the loss of putting petroleum into the GST.

Subramanian seemed optimistic about the country, as he said that India remains important in the international context, though the country's growth had slowed down in the recent years. He further noted that standards of living of majority of Indians, including at the bottom, had improved much more rapidly during the past 25-30 years.

However, Former chief economic adviser pointed that there is big reduction in the poverty, improvement in life expectancy. But it is true that disproportionately, the benefits of are concentrated at the top, noting that this is a worldwide phenomena not only for India.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10552.20, up by 63.75 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 10333.85 and 10567.15. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 5.83%, Sun Pharma up by 5.70%, Asian Paints up by 4.14%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.92% and Titan up by 2.57%. On the flip side, HPCL down by 2.60%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 1.64%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.59%, BPCL down by 1.50% and HDFC Bank down by 1.32% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Nikkei 225 lost 71.48 points or 0.34% to 21,148.02, Straits Times shed 17.81 points or 0.58% to 3,054.63, KOSPI slipped 0.82 points or 0.04% to 2,052.97 and Jakarta Composite was down by 38.02 points or 0.62% to 6,073.34. On the flip side, Hang Seng surged 19.29 points or 0.07% to 25,771.67, Taiwan Weighted added 59.50 points or 0.62% to 9,707.04 and Shanghai Composite was up by 9.51 points or 0.37% to 2,594.09.

All European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 gained 28.33 points or 0.42% to 6,749.87, France’s CAC soared 31.19 points or 0.66% to 4,773.57 and Germany’s DAX was up by 75.91 points or 0.71% to 10,697.98.