Positive momentum continues in afternoon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued their positive momentum in afternoon deals, tracking strength in Asian peers. Traders remained optimistic with Commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that the government is making a strategy to make India a $5 trillion economy and simultaneously fine tuning the plan to take it to $10 trillion. The markets also got comfort with the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) setting up three working groups to suggest ways to facilitate exports, especially through e-commerce, and improve compliance by way of curbing tax evasion. Moreover, the appreciating rupee against the US dollar and easing crude prices too supported the markets. On the sectoral front, real estate sector stocks edged higher with Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar’s statement that the current size of the Indian real estate market, which is already $120 billion dollar, will grow over five-fold to $650 billion by the year 2040.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, after President Donald Trump said he would postpone a March 1 deadline for a U.S. tariff hike on Chinese imports following weekend talks on a battle over Beijing’s technology ambitions. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35993.00, up by 121.52 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 35901.06 and 36033.51. There were 17 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.36%, while Small cap index was up by 0.68%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.94%, IT up by 0.93%, Auto up by 0.87%, TECK up by 0.76% and Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services up by 0.57%, while Telecom down by 0.46%, Industrials down by 0.18%, PSU down by 0.14%, Energy down by 0.13% and Utilities down by 0.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 1.33%, Sun Pharma up by 1.32%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.25%, Infosys up by 1.06% and ICICI Bank up by 1.04%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 0.46%, Axis Bank down by 0.43%, NTPC down by 0.43%, SBI down by 0.42% and Tata Steel down by 0.36% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar has expressed hope that the current size of the Indian real estate market, which is already $120 billion dollar, will grow over five-fold to $650 billion by the year 2040. He said that the real estate market is also set to double its contribution to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) from the current 7%. Besides, he noted that the industry employs 55 million people now and this number will rise to 66 million as it grows.

Kumar has said the recent Interim Budget has demonstrated that the government would take steps to make sure that the real estate sector grow and develop further so that this industry contributes even more to the economy. He also said that the Centre has offered a lot of tax incentives to developers building affordable houses and also many tax sops to homebuyers looking to purchase second homes.

Niti Aayog vice-chairman further said that this sector is heart of the economy and has backward linkages with 200 other industries. According to him, the real estate sector would contribute more with rapid urbanisation. He also noted that the two legislations-the goods and services tax and the RERA-implemented by the government would help in organised growth of this sector.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10822.40, up by 30.75 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 10788.05 and 10830.10. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 2.47%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.95%, TCS up by 1.44%, Sun Pharma up by 1.25% and Indusind Bank up by 1.08%. On the flip side, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 7.73%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.89%, BPCL down by 1.31%, HPCL down by 0.84% and Zee Entertainment down by 0.60% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; Hang Seng increased 143.69 points or 0.5% to 28,959.99, Shanghai Composite gained 149.91 points or 5.35% to 2,954.14, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 68.01 points or 0.66% to 10,390.93, KOSPI rose 2.06 points or 0.09% to 2,232.56, Straits Times advanced 0.83 points or 0.03% to 3,270.73, Nikkei 225 surged 102.72 points or 0.48% to 21,528.23 and Jakarta Composite was up by 25.52 points or 0.39% to 6,526.90.