Benchmarks trade jubilantly in early deals; Nifty reclaims 11k mark

Indian equity benchmarks made an optimistic start and are trading jubilantly in early deals on Wednesday, with frontline gauges recapturing their crucial 11,000 (Nifty) and 36,800 (Sensex). Sentiments remained upbeat with the finance ministry expecting economic growth to accelerate to 7.5% in 2019-20 from 7.2% projected for the current fiscal. There will be some support as the government expressed hope that the country's exports that are currently growing at 10% will maintain the pace this fiscal. Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan said trade deficit is not going to be a matter of any worry. Traders also took some encouragement with United Nations’ latest report that India is among the several countries that stand to benefit from the ongoing trade tensions between the world's top two economies - the US and China.

Global cues too remained supportive with Asian markets are trading in green at this point of time as investors waited to see if US President Donald Trump drops any hints of progress on tariffs in his State of the Union speech. The US markets ended higher on Tuesday, as stronger-than-expected earnings reports from some consumer discretionary companies.

Back home, banking sector stocks edged higher despite India Ratings’ report that around Rs 3.5 lakh crore or 3.9% of the stressed corporate loans continue to remain unrecognised on the books of banks and nearly 40% of them may become dud assets by September 2020.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36880.90, up by 264.09 points or 0.72% after trading in a range of 36680.88 and 36894.25. There were 24 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index shed 0.38%, while Small cap index was down by 0.15%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.43%, TECK up by 1.31%, Energy up by 1.06%, Oil & Gas up by 0.82% and FMCG up by 0.55%, while Telecom down by 1.19%, Consumer Durables down by 0.71%, Power down by 0.48%, Utilities down by 0.26% and Realty down by 0.24% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Tech up by 1.40%, Asian Paints up by 1.29%, Infosys up by 1.29%, ICICI Bank up by 1.29% and Reliance Industries up by 1.27%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.66%, NTPC down by 1.09%, Indusind Bank down by 0.80%, Vedanta down by 0.65% and Tata Motors down by 0.60% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over growth of Indian economy, the Finance Ministry has said that it expects Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth to accelerate to 7.5 per cent in 2019-20 (FY20) from 7.2 per cent projected for the current fiscal (FY19).  Besides, the growth was 8.2 per cent in 2016-17, the year in which the government demonetised high-denomination currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.

Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg has said ‘We are looking at nominal growth of 11.5 per cent for 2019-20. Our assumption is 7.5 per cent real growth and 4 per cent inflation. We have been reasonable.’

Clarifying focus of the Budget 2019-20, Garg said it has tried to touch a major portion of the population of the country in some way or the other. Second is the conviction of the government that don't give doles but invest in the long-term asset creation with a view to making the life of people better. Invest in real factors, which build the life, which can make things more and more productive.  

He further said the other distinguishing feature is that there should be fiscal consolidation and no expansionary policy, otherwise, it fuels inflation and crowd out private investment. He added that enhancement of rural connectivity, rural electrification and housing for all are efforts in that direction.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11012.75, up by 78.40 points or 0.72% after trading in a range of 10962.70 and 11018.60. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 5.81%, Zee Entertainment up by 5.73%, Grasim Industries up by 1.74%, HPCL up by 1.62% and Asian Paints up by 1.39%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.78%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.35%, NTPC down by 1.12%, Indusind Bank down by 1.10% and Vedanta down by 0.83% were the top losers.

Several markets in Asia are closed for the Lunar New Year holidays. Nikkei 225 gained 66.95 points or 0.32% to 20,911.40 and Jakarta Composite was up by 58.56 points or 0.90% to 6,540.01.