Benchmarks trade in fine fettle in early deals; Sensex reclaims 36,300 mark

Indian equity benchmarks made an optimistic start and are trading in fine fettle in early deals on Wednesday amid strong macro-economic data. The Central Statistics Office’s (CSO) data showed that India's Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation for the month of January 2019 eased to a 19-month low at 2.05% over the previous month on continued decline in food prices, including vegetables and eggs, while industrial production in December 2018 bounced back to 2.4% after sliding to a 17-month low in November. Traders also took some encouragement Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, stressing that tax concessions have been provided with a view to help poor and middle class people living on a tight budget, said now individuals earning up to Rs 9.5 lakh can escape liability by taking advantage of saving schemes.

Global cues too remained supportive with most of the Asian counters trading in green at this point of time tracking overnight gains on Wall Street amid optimism over US-China trade talks. The US markets rose on Tuesday, with gains over a percent, as President Donald Trump downplayed the chance of another government shutdown and said he could delay new tariffs on Chinese imports.

Back home, port sector stocks remained in focus with report that major ports of the country together handled 578.86 Million Tonnes (MT) of cargo during April-January 2019, representing a growth of 3.11%. In scrip specific developments, Sun Pharma advanced on reporting around 4-fold jump in Q3 consolidated net profit and Tata Power edged higher with its arm launching residential rooftop solution in Chandigarh.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36305.64, up by 152.02 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 36262.26 and 36375.80. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.17%, while Small cap index was up by 0.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.25%, FMCG up by 0.97%, Utilities up by 0.50%, Power up by 0.50% and Healthcare was up by 0.40%, while Telecom down by 0.47%, Consumer Durables down by 0.47%, Auto down by 0.23%, PSU down by 0.11% and Oil & Gas down by 0.11% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.72%, ITC up by 2.27%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.46%, HDFC up by 1.16% and TCS up by 1.00%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 0.95%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.94%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.89%, Infosys down by 0.64% and SBI down by 0.45% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) continued its southward journey for another month and eased further to 2.05% in the month of January 2019, the lowest in the last 19 months. The fall in inflation was on the back of continued decline in food prices, including vegetables and eggs. It was also lower than 5.07% growth in the same month of last year. The inflation was lowest since June 2017 when it had touched 1.46%. Besides, the CPI for December 2018 has also been revised downward to 2.11% from the earlier estimate of 2.19%. Moreover, Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) deflated to (-) 2.17% in January 2019, from 4.70% in the corresponding month of 2018.

As per the data of the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme, the CPI (Rural, Urban, Combined) on Base2012=100 for January 2019, stood at 1.29%, 2.91% and 2.05% respectively, compared to 5.21%, 4.93% and 5.07%, respectively in January 2018. The index value of CPI for combined stood at 139.7. The data also showed that CFPI for all India Rural and Urban for January 2019 stood at (-) 2.80% and (-) 0.96%, respectively, compared to 5.05% and 4.06%, respectively in January 2018. The index value of CFPI for combined stood at 135.1 for the month of January.

The ‘food and beverages’ segment registered a deflation of 1.29% in January as against 1.49% deflation a month ago. Vegetables recorded a deflation of 13.32% in January as against a decline of 16.14% a month ago, while sugar and confectionery registered 8.16% deflation as against 9.22% deflation a month ago. Inflation for the ‘fuel and light’ category moderated to 2.20% in January from 4.54% in December 2018. However, the prices of milk-based products rose marginally by 0.78%, while cereals became dearer by 0.88% and meat and fish prices recorded a rise of 5.06%.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10866.20, up by 34.80 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 10852.65 and 10891.65. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing up by 2.98%, Sun Pharma up by 2.75%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.42%, ITC up by 2.25% and Power Grid Corporation up by 1.46%. On the flip side, HPCL down by 2.35%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.16%, BPCL down by 1.96%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.28% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.98% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 301.21 points or 1.44% to 21,165.42, Straits Times jumped 36.15 points or 1.13% to 3,237.30, Hang Seng rose 225.91 points or 0.80% to 28,397.24, KOSPI gained 8.49 points or 0.39% to 2,198.96, Jakarta Composite added 17.84 points or 0.28% to 6,444.17 and Shanghai Composite was up by 25.22 points or 0.94% to 2,697.11. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted was down by 9.05 points or 0.09% to 10,088.69.