Benchmarks trade jubilantly in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made a gap-up opening and are trading jubilantly in early deals with frontline gauges recapturing their crucial 36,100 (Sensex) and 10,850 (Nifty) levels amid firm global cues. Traders took encouragement with report that under attack for the agrarian crisis, the government is contemplating several incentives, including a big financial package, to woo farmers ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The government is looking at a sort of income support scheme for farmers, along with tweaking some existing programmes, to make them more beneficial and improve their acceptability among growers. Traders took note of a private report that the new foreign direct investment (FDI) policy in the e-commerce sector may not impact jobs immediately. The new FDI policy released by the government on December 26 aims to protect the interests of local businessmen, who had accused the online marketplaces of butchering their revenue.

Global cues too remained supportive with most of the Asian counters trading in green at this point of time, as investors heartened by Wall Street’s best performance in nine years after the White House said Fed Chair Jay Powell would not be fired. The US markets ended Thursday’s volatile trading session in green, adding to the massive gains of the previous session, on the back of late hour buying.

Back home, automobile sector stocks remained buzzing with the government’s statement that the country’s automobile sector, which attracted $16.5 billion in FDI between April 2000 and December 2016, is expected to attract $8-10 billion more in local and foreign investments by 2023. In scrip specific developments, Tata Moters edged higher on report that the company is working in partnership with other group firms namely Tata Capital for financing and Tata Power for the charging infrastructure network to develop electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem and   City Union Bank strengthened on opening various branches in Tamil Nadu.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36143.34, up by 336.06 points or 0.94% after trading in a range of 35911.99 and 36160.54. There were 29 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.51%, while Small cap index was up by 0.65%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.32%, Bankex up by 1.15%, Basic Materials up by 1.04%, Capital Goods up by 0.84% and Healthcare was up by 0.80%, while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.12%, Indusind Bank up by 2.08%, HDFC up by 1.80%, Yes Bank up by 1.74% and ICICI Bank up by 1.52%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.96% and NTPC down by 0.37% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, triggering concerns about the state of public finances, India’s fiscal deficit exceeded to Rs 7.17 lakh crore and touched 114.8% of the Budget Estimate (BE) of Rs 6.24 lakh crore at the end of November on account of lower revenue collections. At the end of November 2017, it was 112% of the BE. Besides, the government has budgeted to cut the fiscal deficit to 3.3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2018-19, from 3.53% in the previous financial year.

The Controller General of Accounts’ (CGA) data showed that the total revenue receipts of the government totalled Rs 8.7 lakh crore or 50.4% of BE in 2018-19 till November, compared with 53.1% during the same period last year. The government has budgeted to mop up Rs 17.25 lakh crore revenue during the current fiscal.

According to the data, tax revenue was 49.4% of BE, compared with 57% in the comparable period of the previous year. Moreover, the total expenditure of the government at November-end was Rs 16.13 lakh crore or 66.1% of BE. The expenditure in terms of percentage of BE was higher in the year-ago period. Of the total expenditure in this period, Rs 14.22 lakh crore was on revenue account and Rs 1.91 lakh crore on capital account.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10870.25, up by 90.45 points or 0.84% after trading in a range of 10817.15 and 10879.25. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Titan Co up by 2.34%, Sun Pharma up by 2.31%, Indusind Bank up by 2.17%, Yes Bank up by 2.13% and UPL up by 2.11%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 3.20%, NTPC down by 0.71%, Bharti Infratel down by 0.37%, Asian Paints down by 0.22% and ONGC down by 0.13% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Straits Times gained 22.21 points or 0.73% to 3,066.95, Hang Seng rose 23.99 points or 0.09% to 25,502.87, Taiwan Weighted jumped 33.62 points or 0.35% to 9,675.18, KOSPI surged 14.28 points or 0.70% to 2,042.72, Jakarta Composite increased 13.33 points or 0.22% to 6,203.97. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 71.65 points or 0.36% to 20,005.97.