Local equities continue firm trade in morning deals

Local equity benchmarks continued their firm trade in morning session on account of buying in front line counters, with Sensex and Nifty gaining around 190 and 50 points, respectively. Indices like Power, Metal and Basic Materials were, as usual, inched higher with the up-move on the benchmarks. Sentiment was buoyed as the World Bank’s report that increasing exports can lead to better jobs and higher wages in India, including more formal sector employment for youth and women. Investors overlooked Central Statistics Office’s (CSO) report which showed that India’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew at a five-quarter low rate of 6.6% in the September-December period (Q3) of the current fiscal. Besides, a report also showed that core sector growth fell to 19-month low of 1.8%in January as the production of crude oil, refinery products and electricity contracted. Traders also ignored a report that the government has sharply revised down foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into the chemicals sector other than fertilizer, which had surprisingly emerged as the biggest puller of such investments in the first three quarters of this fiscal, beating larger segments like services, telecommunications and trading.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, after a report suggested that the leaders of China and the US could be endorsing a trade deal in weeks. Besides, investors were keeping an eye on the stand-off between India and Pakistan. Back home, solar capacity addition in India last year came down by 15.5% to 8,263 MW as compared to 2017 due to safeguard duty and issues related to GST and transmission. The year 2017 saw new solar installations of 9,782 MW.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36059.61, up by 192.17 points or 0.54% after trading in a range of 36008.39 and 36140.67. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.06%, while Small cap index was up by 1.35%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.63%, Basic Materials up by 1.28%, PSU up by 1.15%, Power up by 1.06% and Utilities was up by 1.01%, while Telecom down by 1.63%, Realty down by 0.07% and Consumer Durables was down by 0.04% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 2.33%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.98%, Yes Bank up by 1.82%, Coal India up by 1.53% and IndusInd Bank was up by 1.36%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 4.04%, ONGC down by 0.17% and Axis Bank was down by 0.04% were the few losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stated that the Union Cabinet has cleared a Rs 10,000-crore programme under the FAME-II scheme for promoting electric and hybrid vehicles. The scheme will be implemented over a period of three years with effect from April 1, 2019. The objective of the scheme is to encourage faster adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles by way of offering upfront incentive on purchase of electric vehicles and also by way of establishing necessary charging infrastructure for EV. It is the expanded version of the present scheme FAME India I (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) and Electric Vehicles) which was launched on April 1, 2015, with a total outlay of Rs 895 crore.

The emphasis will be on electrification of public transport that includes shared transport, demand incentives on operational expenditure mode for electric buses will be delivered through state/city transport corporations (STUs).  In three-wheeler and four wheeler segments, incentives will be applicable mainly on vehicles used for public transport or registered commercial purposes. In the two-wheeler segment, the focus will be on private vehicles. The scheme is planned to support 10 lakh electric two-wheelers, 5 lakh three-wheelers, 55,000 four-wheelers and 7,000 buses. The scheme will help in addressing the issue of environmental pollution and fuel security.

Besides, in order to encourage advance technologies, the benefits of the incentives will be extended to only those vehicles which are fitted with advanced battery like lithium-ion battery and other new technology batteries. The scheme also proposes support for setting up of charging infrastructure whereby about 2,700 charging stations will be set up in metros, other million-plus cities, smart cities and cities of hilly states across India.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10852.45, up by 59.95 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 10839.35 and 10871.60. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 2.37%, Vedanta up by 2.36%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.33%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.00% and Yes Bank was up by 1.95%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 4.18%, Cipla down by 1.10%, Wipro down by 0.81%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.79% and Titan Company was down by 0.35% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in green, Nikkei 225 surged 233.23 points or 1.09% to 21,618.39, Hang Seng increased 74.38 points or 0.26% to 28,707.56, Jakarta Composite soared 55.63 points or 0.86% to 6,498.98, Straits Times advanced 10.81 points or 0.34% to 3,223.50 and Shanghai Composite gained 5.95 points or 0.2% to 2,946.90.