Sensex, Nifty trade in green

Tracking firm European markets, Indian equity benchmarks traded in green terrain in late afternoon session, aided by heavy buying at Realty and Energy counters. Sentiments were getting relief, amid reports that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will change its stance to 'neutral' next month and cut interest rates in June at the latest. Some support also came with Crisil Ratings’ latest 'India Outlook FY20' report stating that India’s economic growth may improve to 7.3% in the fiscal year 2019-20 (FY20), provided that there are normal rains, oil prices lower than 2018 and a stable political outcome of the general elections. However, gains were limited, as traders got cautious with German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s statement that countries like India and China have begun affecting the world economy much more today and that needs to be taken into account for having a relook at the global trade and financial systems. On the sectoral front, food processing companies stocks were in limelight, after the Centre approved an agreement between India and Japan for cooperation in the food processing sector. This move will promote understanding of best practices in food processing in the two countries and also improve market access.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, after Lithuania's industrial output expanded in December, led by growth in output in the utilities sector and mining and quarrying. The preliminary figures from the Department of Statistics showed that industrial production rose by a seasonally and working-day adjusted 1.2 percent month-on-month in December. Manufacturing output edged up 0.6 percent. The rise was led by a 7.3 percent increase in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply and a 7.2 percent rise in mining and quarrying. Asian markets were also trading in green, even though the manufacturing sector in Japan fell into stagnation in December. The latest survey from Nikkei revealed with a manufacturing PMI score of 50.0. That's down from 52.6 in December and it lands right on the line that separates expansion from contraction.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36146.39, up by 37.92 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 35996.68 and 36225.51. There were 11 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.21%, while Small cap index was down by 0.49%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.94%, Energy up by 0.62%, IT up by 0.46%, FMCG up by 0.30% and TECK up by 0.23%, while Telecom down by 1.73%, Auto down by 0.91%, Industrials down by 0.89%, Capital Goods down by 0.63% and Basic Materials down by 0.63% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 1.06%, Reliance Industries up by 0.97%, TCS up by 0.86%, HDFC up by 0.48% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.28%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.22%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 3.19%, Sun Pharma down by 2.10%, Yes Bank down by 1.65% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.10% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, underlining India as a bright spot for investors, the Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is the biggest reform taken as part of systemic reforms. She further said that the government has ensured that systemic reforms were taken up with courage.

Union Minister also said that the government has made it a point that systemic reforms were done in such a way that India's growth potential was realised fully, further adding that the biggest reform, GST in the last 60 years was to make India as one market and that was achieved under Prime Minister Modi.

While talking about the economic growth, Sitharaman said that the India maintained the growth well above 6.5 per cent, sometimes touching seven and IMF's prediction is that the country is likely to be over seven per cent in the coming years too. Besides, she highlighted that the country has climbed the World Bank's Ease of Doing business index also, on the back of many steps taken by the government.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10831.95, up by 0.45 points or 0.00% after trading in a range of 10798.65 and 10858.40. There were 15 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining, while 2 remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ITC up by 1.24%, Reliance Industries up by 1.14%, TCS up by 1.09%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.87% and Titan Co up by 0.81%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 4.39%, Tata Motors down by 3.02%, Sun Pharma down by 2.13%, UPL down by 2.04% and Yes Bank down by 1.85% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 112.78 points or 0.42% to 27,120.98, KOSPI rose 17.25 points or 0.81% to 2,145.03, Jakarta Composite soared 20.64 points or 0.32% to 6,471.81, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 30.72 points or 0.31% to 9,877.12, Shanghai Composite gained 11.28 points or 0.44% to 2,592.28 and Straits Times advanced 13.82 points or 0.44% to 3,184.93. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 19.09 points or 0.09% to 20,574.63.

European markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC rose 16.68 points or 0.34% to 4,857.06, Germany’s DAX added 25.06 points or 0.23% to 11,096.60, while UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 13.96 points or 0.20% to 6,828.92.