Benchmarks trade with marginal gains

Indian equity benchmarks are trading with marginal gains in early deals, as traders took encouragement with Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that India's merchandise and services export would touch $540-billion mark this fiscal. He said exports are growing at a healthy pace and shipments of goods would reach over $330 billion. Similarly, services exports would touch about $200 billion. However, gains remained capped as traders remain concerned with Crisil Research’s report stating that India Inc’s revenue growth is likely to halve in the fourth quarter due to slump in commodity prices but fall in input costs will shore up profitability of end-user industries. Crisil expects on-year corporate revenue growth for the current quarter to print at 8-9%, down sharply from the average of 16.5% in the previous three quarters.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green at this point of time on revived hopes of progress in US-China trade talks. The US markets ended higher on Thursday amid reports that the US and China have made progress toward a trade deal even as investors weighed data showing US economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter from above-trend rates.

Back home, cement stocks remained buzzing with ICRA’s report that India’s cement industry saw a 13.6% year-on-year increase in volume to 275.7 million metric tonnes in the first ten months of the current fiscal, driven largely by rural and affordable housing. The growth was almost double the 7% increase forecast by the agency. Banking sector stocks remained in focus report that five state-owned banks, including PNB, Bank of Baroda and Union Bank, received shareholders' approval for capital infusion to the tune of Rs 21,428 crore in lieu of preferential allotment of shares to the government. This capital infusion is for the current fiscal ending March 31, 2019.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38609.87, up by 64.15 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 38546.68 and 38748.54. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.72%, while Small cap index was up by 0.46%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.09%, Healthcare up by 1.38%, Auto up by 1.16%, Basic Materials up by 1.09% and Power was up by 0.97%, while Realty down by 0.66%, Bankex down by 0.29% and Consumer Durables was down by 0.10% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 2.98%, Tata Motors up by 2.17%, Tata Steel up by 1.90%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.89% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.85%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.37%, ICICI Bank down by 0.90%, Axis Bank down by 0.68%, Coal India down by 0.53% and HDFC down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing hopes over India’s exports growth, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu has said that the country’s merchandise and services export would touch about $540 billion mark in the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2019. He added that exports are growing at a healthy pace and shipments of goods would reach over $330 billion, similarly, services exports would touch about $200 billion.

Earlier, Prabhu had said the country’s exports have risen despite global uncertainties in the early part of FY19. Besides, merchandise exports for the period April-February 2018-19 was $298.47 billion as against $274.21 billion during the period April-February 2017-18, registering a positive growth of 8.85%. In the last fiscal year, total exports stood at $302.84 billion, below the government’s target of $310 billion, while it was $275.85 billion in the year before.

Talking about the stalled negotiations for a free trade agreement between India and European Union, the minister said India is keen to resume the talks. He said ‘We are really keen to have this FTA with EU. India will work to find a workable deal’. The negotiations for the pact, officially dubbed as the Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement, have been held up since May 2013 and have witnessed many hurdles.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11588.90, up by 18.90 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 11570.15 and 11630.20. There were 33 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 2.95%, JSW Steel up by 2.62%, Tata Motors up by 2.11%, Tata Steel up by 2.03% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.85%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.53%, Titan Co down by 1.17%, Eicher Motors down by 1.10%, ICICI Bank down by 1.07% and GAIL India down by 1.00% were the top losers.

Most of the Asian markets are trading in green; Nikkei 225 rose 158.20 points or 0.75% to 21,191.96, Straits Times jumped 16.73 points or 0.52% to 3,220.31, Hang Seng surged 201.23 points or 0.70% to 28,976.44, Taiwan Weighted added 68.21 points or 0.65% to 10,604.47, KOSPI increased 5.32 points or 0.25% to 2,133.42 and Shanghai Composite was up by 70.81 points or 2.36% to 3,065.75. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 37.99 points or 0.59% to 6,442.80.