Local equities continue firm trade

Local equity benchmarks added some more gains to continue firm trade in the morning session on account of buying in front line counters. The Sensex and Nifty eked out over one percent gain, after intense buying thronged the markets. Realty, Auto and Metal have elevated with gains on their respective front line stocks. Traders took note of CII body’s report which stated that the government should consider permitting 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail trade and further improve ease of doing business for the sector to promote growth in the segment. Market participants also took note of a report that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is likely to announce loan waivers worth billions of dollars to woo millions of farmers ahead of a general election. Besides, a private report also stated that the Asian Development Bank expects developing Asia to meet its growth forecasts for this year and next on strong domestic demand and easing inflation pressures, though it warned of downside risks from a rising tide of trade protectionism.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, on much-needed good news on the China-US trade talks, while energy firms rallied with oil prices, though the pound remained beaten down by Brexit woes. Back home, on the sectoral front, Coal Industries stocks were trading mostly higher, as Coal Ministry stated that the government’s effort to increase domestic coal production and power demand falling with the onset of the winters will check coal imports. Power plants across the country had imported 6.6 MT coal in October, 43.5% higher than the monthly average import quantity recorded this year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35538.57, up by 388.56 points or 1.11% after trading in a range of 35167.47 and 35554.36. There were 30 stocks advancing against 1 stock declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.75%, while Small cap index was up by 1.61%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.84%, Auto up by 2.60%, Metal up by 2.26%, Basic Materials up by 1.93% and Telecom was up by 1.86%, while there were no losers on the sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero MotoCorp up by 4.96%, Yes Bank up by 4.59%, Tata Steel up by 3.27%, Tata Motors up by 2.91% and Tata Motors - DVR was up by 2.73%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.20% was the sole loser.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest data has showed that it continued to remain a net seller of the US dollar in October 2018, as it sold $7.204 billion of the greenback in the spot market. RBI maintains that its intervention in the foreign exchange market is to curb volatility in the rupee and not to target a level of the domestic currency.

In the reporting month, the central bank purchased $945 million, while sold $8.149 billion in the spot market. In September 2018, the RBI sold $31 million of the US currency in the spot market on a net basis, after it bought $1.012 billion, while selling $1.043 billion. Though, in October 2017, the bank was net buyer of US currency, after it had bought $1.910 billion, while sold $1.058 billion in the spot market.

Besides, the RBI data showed, in the forward dollar market, the outstanding net forward sales at the end of October 2018 was $2.888 billion, compared with $1.358 billion in September. In the last financial year (FY18), the bank had net purchased $33.689 billion of US dollars from the spot market. It had bought $52.068 billion, while sold $18.379 billion. In the financial FY17, the RBI had bought $12.351 billion of the US dollar on a net basis.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10669.60, up by 120.45 points or 1.14% after trading in a range of 10560.80 and 10675.25. There were 48 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 5.27%, Hero MotoCorp up by 4.98%, Yes Bank up by 4.08%, Tata Steel up by 3.38% and Bajaj Auto was up by 3.15%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 2.62% and Asian Paints was down by 0.08% were the only losers.

All Asian markets were trading in green, Nikkei 225 surged 425.37 points or 2.01% to 21,573.39, Jakarta Composite soared 31.67 points or 0.52% to 6,108.26, Straits Times advanced 26.77 points or 0.88% to 3,086.05, KOSPI rose 27.51 points or 1.34% to 2,080.48, Shanghai Composite gained 5.07 points or 0.2% to 2,599.16, Hang Seng increased 376.46 points or 1.46% to 26,148.13 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 90.49 points or 0.93% to 9,797.53.