Local equities continue firm trade in morning deals

Local equity benchmarks added gains to continue firm trade in the morning session, with the Sensex and Nifty gaining more than 250 and 50 points, respectively. Metal, Power and FMCG have elevated with gains on their respective front line stocks. Traders remained energized with Commerce Ministry’s data which showed that India’s exports grew by a meagre 0.80 per cent to $26.5 billion in November, mainly due to a high base effect, even as the trade deficit widened to $16.67 billion. Traders took encouragement with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the government will stick to the 3.3 per cent fiscal deficit target in the current financial year. He also said India will clock a growth rate of 7-8 per cent despite global uncertainties and will retain the tag of the world’s fastest growing major economy. Market participants took note of Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg’s statement that the Indian economy has a large overhang of public debt and there is a need to focus on reducing this in the next 4-5 years.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, on hopes that the Federal Reserve would re-evaluate its hawkish stance at a meeting later this week, following signs of slower global growth. Back home, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu stated that GST, law on black money and insolvency code started by the Modi government are bringing desired results and asserted that India has got a bright future.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36215.66, up by 252.73 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 36123.62 and 36232.67. There were 26 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.24%, while Small cap index was up by 0.22%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.53%, Power up by 1.51%, Utilities up by 1.40%, PSU up by 0.92% and FMCG was up by 0.90%, while Realty down by 0.64%, Consumer Durables down by 0.37%, IT down by 0.16% and TECK was down by 0.10% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 4.13%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 3.66%, Vedanta up by 3.53%, Power Grid up by 3.29% and NTPC was up by 2.40%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.13%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.03%, Infosys down by 0.62%, Asian Paints down by 0.44% and Axis Bank was down by 0.14% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg stated that the Indian economy has a large overhang of public debt which needs to be reduced in four-five years, even as the Indian economy is moving towards an ideal fiscal deficit level of around three per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and India’s macroeconomic parameters are among the best globally.

Garg further said ‘Most credit rating agencies give a lot of weightage to the debt to GDP ratio of country, we focused more on the fiscal deficit presently. But going forward, that is the area where we will focus’. On inflation, he noted ‘I think we have more or less conquered, I wouldn’t say things may not go wrong, can go wrong sometimes, there are certain external factors like oil… which are not completely in our control. But I think we are reasonably assured that the inflation is less of a worry.’ Headline inflation fell to a 17-month low of 2.33 per cent in November 2018, primarily due to a favourable base effect and fall in prices of vegetables and cereals.

Besides, he stated that India can become a $10 trillion economy by 2030 if some of the concerns are addressed. He said ‘We can build a new economy whether you talk about 2025, 2030, a $10 trillion economy by 2030 or $5 trillion by 2025, all these are feasible, we can achieve it if we pay attention to all these major traits’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10863.65, up by 58.20 points or 0.54% after trading in a range of 10844.85 and 10876.55. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 4.04%, Vedanta up by 3.22%, Power Grid up by 3.18%, NTPC up by 2.44% and ICICI Bank was up by 1.82%. On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 1.43%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.32%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.25%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.08% and BPCL was down by 0.90% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Nikkei 225 surged 145.67 points or 0.68% to 21,520.50, Straits Times advanced 42.55 points or 1.38% to 3,119.64, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 16.33 points or 0.17% to 9,790.49, KOSPI rose 3.79 points or 0.18% to 2,073.17 and Shanghai Composite was up by 0.24 points or 0.01% to 2,593.98.

On the other hand, Hang Seng decreased 2.61 points or 0.01% to 26,092.18 and Jakarta Composite was down by 61.10 points or 0.99% to 6,108.74.