Sensex, Nifty continue to trade in positive terrain

Indian stock markets continued to trade in positive terrain in the early noon session due to buying in Realty, Telecom, Auto, Metal and Industrials stocks. Buying in frontline stocks such as Hero MotoCorp, Yes Bank, Bharti Airtel and Indiabulls Housing were aiding sentiment, while selling in Dr. Reddys Lab, Titan and HPCL kept the gains in the markets in check. Market participates took some support with Asian Development Bank report that it has retained its India growth forecast at 7.3 per cent for current fiscal and 7.6 per cent in the following financial year, as India is maintaining growth momentum on rebounding exports and higher industrial and agricultural output. Some comfort also came in with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that India is set to increase its public health spending to 2.5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025. Meanwhile, 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.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, as US President Donald trump sounded upbeat about a trade deal with China. On the home turf, shares of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies duch as JK Agri Genetics, Kwality, Tata Global Beverages, Parag Milk Foods and Dabur India have rallied on the BSE. Moreover, SBI stocks were trading higher as it is running pilot projects to disburse agricultural loans digitally and expects to roll out the services very soon. The bank has tied-up with some players for settlement of payments.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35538.55, up by 388.54 points or 1.11% after trading in a range of 35167.47 and 35554.36. There were 31 stocks advancing against no stocks declined on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 2.07%, while Small cap index was up by 1.75%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.09%, Telecom up by 2.85%, Auto up by 2.78%, Metal up by 2.16%, Industrials up by 1.97%, while there were no losers on the sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero MotoCorp up by 5.19%, Yes Bank up by 4.90%, Bharti Airtel up by 4.60%, Tata Steel up by 3.57% and Tata Motors - DVR was up by 3.08%, while there were no losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said that India will add 10,000 Megawatt (Mw) of renewable energy (RE) generation capacity in the next fiscal ending March 2020, with the share of RE in the overall generation mix growing across India. It indicated that the share of renewables in the overall generation mix has increased to 7.8 percent in FY18 from 5.6 percent in FY15, largely due to the large-sized capacity addition in the wind and solar power segments during this period, driven by policy support from central and state governments as well as the significantly improved tariff competitiveness of wind and solar power vis-a-vis conventional power sources. Besides, it has maintained a year-end stable outlook for the sector.

According to the report, the project awards by the central nodal agencies and state distribution utilities in 2017 and 2018 (year-to- date) provide a reasonably healthy visibility for RE capacity addition in FY19 and FY20 with expected addition of about 9,000 MW in FY2019 and about 10,000 MW in FY2020. It also said that this is expected to increase the share of RE in the all India generation to 10 percent by FY20 and further to 13 percent by FY22 based on capacity addition forecasts. However, it said that RE sector especially wind and solar segments remain exposed to near-term challenges arising due to cost impact of safeguard duty and rising interest rate, coupled with transmission network availability.

ICRA further said that the average bid tariffs discovered in the auctions for wind and solar power projects in 2018 has so far remained at Rs 2.6-2.7 per unit, increasing slightly from the low of Rs 2.4 per unit. It noted that this uptrend in bid tariffs was partly driven by factors such as cost headwinds arising from rising interest rates, increase in capital costs due to imposition of taxes and duties, a weak rupee against dollar for imported equipment, and rising equipment costs.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10666.00, up by 116.85 points or 1.11% after trading in a range of 10560.80 and 10675.25. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 5.20%, Yes Bank up by 4.89%, Bharti Airtel up by 4.24%, Indiabulls Housing up by 3.90% and Tata Steel was up by 3.81%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 3.64%, Titan down by 0.58%, HPCL down by 0.25%, Bharti Infratel down by 0.22% and Infosys was down by 0.14% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in green; Nikkei 225 surged 424.29 points or 2.01% to 21,572.31, Jakarta Composite soared 31.67 points or 0.52% to 6,108.26, Straits Times advanced 32.58 points or 1.06% to 3,091.86, KOSPI rose 26.29 points or 1.28% to 2,079.26, Shanghai Composite gained 4.66 points or 0.18% to 2,598.75, Hang Seng increased 383.07 points or 1.49% to 26,154.74 and Taiwan Weighted strengthened 94.66 points or 0.98% to 9,801.70.