Barometer gauges maintain upward momentum in the early noon

Indian equity markets maintained their upward momentum in the early noon session as traders remain energized with the report stating that the Government of India is set to launch transmission line tenders worth $5 billion, starting in June 2019. The process will be undertaken in phases, to achieve the 175 gigawatts (GW) renewable energy capacity in India by 2022. Traders remained optimistic with a private report which indicated that although 2018 brought some cyclical challenges, India maintains top ranking in overall consumer sentiment, while Brazil has overtaken China to come second. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed in afternoon trade as investor concerns over the outlook for the global economy lingered. Back home, major buying was witnessed in Bankex sector followed by Basic Materials and Metal while, traders pare yesterday’s gain from Realty and Oil & Gas witnessed selling.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38444.65, up by 211.24 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 38319.64 and 38475.93. There were 23 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged 1.17%, while Small cap index was up by 0.69%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.23%, Basic Materials up by 0.88%, Metal up by 0.84%, FMCG up by 0.79% and Industrials was up by 0.48%, while Realty down by 0.38% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.13% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 4.23%, Yes Bank up by 3.96%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.51%, Vedanta up by 2.02% and SBI was up by 1.81%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.21%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.75%, Asian Paints down by 0.72%, Coal India down by 0.25% and Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 0.20% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) is likely to approve a Rural Development Ministry request to revise the wages under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) from April 1. The development could benefit crores of beneficiaries across India. The new wage rates for the MGNREGA are linked with the Consumer Price Index for agricultural labourers (CPI-AL).

The ministry had approached the EC for approval as the model code is in force. The government would be specifically asked against publicising the hike, if the request is approved. Different states have different wage rates so the increase in wages will also be different. The wages may remain flat in some states, while the increase could be up to 5 percent over and above the current wage in others. In interim budget, the government had proposed to allocate Rs 60,000 crore for rural employment scheme under the MGNREGA for the year 2019-20. The amount allocated for 2019-20 is 11 percent higher compared to Rs 55,000 crore for 2018-19. The revised estimate for the year 2018-19 was Rs 61,084.09 crore.

MGNREGA, a rural job guarantee scheme introduced in 2005, now covers all the rural districts of the country. The main objective of the scheme involves providing up to 100 days of unskilled manual work in a financial year to every household in rural areas as per demand, resulting in creation of productive assets.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11539.35, up by 56.10 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 11500.30 and 11546.20. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 4.22%, Yes Bank up by 3.98%, Indiabulls Housing up by 3.55%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.51% and Vedanta was up by 1.87%. On the flip side, HPCL down by 2.15%, NTPC down by 1.46%, BPCL down by 1.25%, Eicher Motors down by 0.99% and Asian Paints was down by 0.92% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng increased 170.26 points or 0.6% to 28,737.17, Straits Times advanced 7.80 points or 0.24% to 3,208.08 and Shanghai Composite was up by 7.28 points or 0.24% to 3,004.38.

On the flip side, KOSPI fell 0.87 points or 0.04% to 2,147.93, Taiwan Weighted dropped 16.50 points or 0.16% to 10,542.70, Jakarta Composite dropped 16.95 points or 0.26% to 6,453.05 and Nikkei 225 was down by 49.66 points or 0.23% to 21,378.73