Local bourses hold gains in afternoon deals

The local barometer gauges held their gains of over half a percent each in afternoon session, on continued buying in select bluechips by domestic investors. Sentiments on the street remained positive with Union Commerce and Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that India has the potential to be a $5 trillion economy in the next 7-8 years. Prabhu said his department had prepared a road map to make this possible by focusing on manufacturing, service sector and agriculture. Some optimism also spread among the investors with private report stating that India is likely to surpass the United Kingdom in the world’s largest economy rankings in 2019. It projects real GDP growth of 1.6 per cent for the UK, 1.7 per cent for France and 7.6 per cent for India in 2019. Encouraging Q3 earnings from bluechip companies along with a firming trend at other Asian markets on easing of US-China trade tensions, also helped in building positive sentiments. On the sectoral front, textile sector remained in focus with Union minister Smriti Irani stating that Indian textiles and garments industry would soon get its own country-specific apparel size.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, as investors cheered a report that China had offered to eliminate its massive trade surplus with the United States (US), while data showed Chinese economic growth hit forecasts in 2018. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36623.24, up by 236.63 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 36351.77 and 36701.03. There were 14 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.06%, while Small cap index was down by 0.26%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 2.10%, IT up by 1.44%, TECK up by 1.16%, Healthcare up by 0.88% and Oil & Gas up by 0.61%, while Telecom down by 0.75%, Realty down by 0.74%, PSU down by 0.58%, Auto down by 0.57% and Consumer Disc down by 0.38% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 3.38%, Sun Pharma up by 2.62%, Infosys up by 2.13%, HDFC Bank up by 1.20% and Bajaj Finance up by 1.19%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.72%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.34%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.19%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.13% and Yes Bank down by 1.06% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency -- Care Ratings -- in its latest report has said that the government is likely to miss its disinvestment target of Rs 80,000 crore for the current fiscal 2018-19, leading to fiscal slippage. It expected that disinvestment proceeds could be around Rs 60,000 crore for FY19. It noted that owing to a shortfall in disinvestment realisations as well in indirect tax collections under the GST regime, fiscal deficit will come in at 3.5 percent as against the targeted 3.3 percent, signifying a slippage of around Rs 20,000 crore.

According to the report, on an average, the government has achieved nearly 65 percent of the budgeted divestment target between FY14 and FY17, and pointed out that FY14 was the lowest with divestment proceeds being only 53 percent of the targeted. It also said that in FY18, total disinvestment proceeds came in at Rs 1 trillion, exceeding the budgeted target of Rs 72,500 crore. It stated that with a little over two months to go for the fiscal year to end, the government had raised Rs 32,142 crore, or 43 percent of the target as of December. It added that of this, Rs 25,325 crore has been raised through the Central Public Sector Enterprises Exchange Traded Fund (CPSE-ETF) the mechanism allowing the simultaneous sale of government stake in various CPSEs across diverse sectors through a single offer.

To make up the shortfall, rating agency said that the government has decided to come up with another tranche of ETF in the form of further fund offer of Bharat 22 ETF, and can raise about Rs 14,000 crore by selling 52.63 percent stake in Rural Electrification Corporation. It also stated that the government can raise another Rs 12,000 crore through buybacks of shares of public sector units in a context limited by the volatility in the markets.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10962.30, up by 55.35 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 10885.75 and 10987.45. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 3.35%, Sun Pharma up by 2.55%, Infosys up by 2.18%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.63% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.44%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.10%, Indian Oil Corp. down by 1.60%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.50%, BPCL down by 1.34% and Hindalco down by 1.27% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; Nikkei 225 surged 53.26 points or 0.26% to 20,719.33, Hang Seng increased 97.87 points or 0.36% to 27,188.68, KOSPI rose 0.33 points or 0.02% to 2,124.61, Jakarta Composite soared 13.31 points or 0.21% to 6,461.47, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 53.34 points or 0.54% to 9,889.40, Shanghai Composite gained 10.54 points or 0.41% to 2,606.55 and Straits Times advanced 14.96 points or 0.46% to 3,239.30.