Sensex, Nifty continue to trade in positive terrain

Indian stock markets continued to trade in positive terrain in early noon session with Sensex and Nifty trading above 36400 and 10900 levels respectively, amid falling crude oil prices. Buying in frontline stocks such as Asian Paints, SBI, Axis Bank and Yes Bank were aiding sentiment, while selling in Sun Pharma, Vedanta and TCS kept the gains in the markets in check. Sentiments got a boost with Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu statement that India will be 5 trillion dollar economy in coming 7-8 years and already have complete road-map for it. Some support also came with Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs P K Das’ statement that the next three months would see the Centre put in place changes in policy and procedures to ensure India further improves its position in the ‘Ease of Doing BusinessReport-2019’. Meanwhile, the cost of printing currency notes escalated to Rs 7,965 crore in 2016-17, the year when the government had banned the high-value 500 and 1,000 rupee bills.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as investors moved cautiously after the previous day’s sell-off, while focus is on a Federal Reserve policy decision with opinions split on whether or not it should hike interest rates again. On the home turf, oil marketing companies and airline companies were trading higher following an overnight fall in global crude oil prices. In the scrip specific development, Capital First was trading in green, as the company completed merger with IDFC Bank on December 18, creating a combined loan asset book of Rs 1.03 lakh crore for the merged entity IDFC First Bank.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36427.19, up by 80.11 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 36381.87 and 36500.35. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.06%, while Small cap index was up by 0.87%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.41%, Basic Materials up by 1.09%, Telecom up by 1.00%, Consumer Disc up by 0.96% and FMCG was up by 0.93%, while IT down by 1.45%, TECK down by 1.18% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 3.29%, SBI up by 1.98%, Axis Bank up by 1.97%, Yes Bank up by 1.70% and ITC was up by 1.29%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.97%, Sun Pharma down by 1.25%, Vedanta down by 1.15%, TCS down by 0.88% and Wipro was down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has said that achieving double digit growth rate in Indian manufacturing sector on sustainable basis is a Doable challenge but for that the country needs to incorporate with global markets. Referring to the draft report of Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) on making India a $5 trillion economy by the year 2025, he said the plan envisages an annual GDP growth rate of 11.7 percent.

Kant stated that on sectoral basis, growth in the manufacturing gross value added has to be 14.6 percent year after year. He pointed out that “if manufacturing sector has to grow at 14.6 percent, then “you have to be a very integral part of the global supply chain” and it cannot be done without looking at global markets.” Besides, he said the country has to be extremely competitive and across chemicals, across automobile, across metals and that would require size and scale.

Niti Aayog CEO further said “for too long, Indian manufacturing has been looking at domestic markets. One thing is very clear that all of us must realise is that the big bucks are out there in the global markets…therefore, penetrating global markets must be our challenge.” He noted that no country has grown without penetrating global markets. He also urged the industry to create 2-3 global champions which will lead India into penetrating the global markets.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10941.95, up by 33.25 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 10928.00 and 10962.60. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing up by 7.06%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.51%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.21%, Asian Paints up by 3.19% and Axis Bank was up by 2.06%. On the flip side, HCL Tech. down by 2.66%, Infosys down by 2.03%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.93%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.74% and Sun Pharma was down by 1.37% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 64.39 points or 0.66% to 9,783.21, Jakarta Composite soared 62.24 points or 1.02% to 6,144.11, Straits Times advanced 16.75 points or 0.55% to 3,062.29, KOSPI rose 15.77 points or 0.76% to 2,077.88 and Hang Seng was up by 8.37 points or 0.03% to 25,822.62.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite declined 11.81 points or 0.46% to 2,564.84 and Nikkei 225 was down by 131.04 points or 0.62% to 20,984.41.