Sensex, Nifty continue to trade in positive terrain

Indian stock markets continued to trade in positive terrain in the early noon session amid sustained foreign fund inflow and positive global cues. Buying in frontline stocks such as Tata Motors, TCS and Coal India were aiding sentiment, while selling in Infosys, Sun Pharma and Bharti Airtel kept the gains in the markets in check. Sentiments remained upbeat with Former Niti Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya statement that the government has achieved 'major successes' in social sector programmes like Ayushmaan Bharat, PM-Kisan and rural electrification. Besides, this government has made an 'unprecedented progress' in tackling corruption. Investors also took support with a private report that financing deals for Indian infrastructure projects are surging on market expectations that the next government will come through with at least some of the spending that politicians are promising now during a heated election campaign. However, gains remained limited as the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), slowed down to 20-month low of 0.1% in February, mainly due to contraction in the manufacturing sector. It had grown by 6.9% in February 2018. The previous low in IIP growth was recorded in June 2017, when factory output contracted 0.3%.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green as better-than-expected data from China helped boost confidence about the health of the world economy. Back on street, on scrip specific development, Metropolis Healthcare listed with 9% premium on the BSE on debut. Metropolis Healthcare has debuted at Rs 960.00 on the BSE, up by 80.00 point or 9.09% from its issue price of Rs 880.The offering, which was open for subscription between April 03, 2019 and April 05, 2019, was subscribed 5.84 times. The issue price was fixed at Rs 880 per share i.e. at upper end of price band of Rs 877-880 apiece.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38869.40, up by 102.29 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 38780.08 and 38898.41. There were 22 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.37%, while Small cap index was up by 0.73%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.84%, Realty up by 1.28%, Auto up by 1.06%, Basic Materials up by 0.84% and Utilities was up by 0.82%, while Telecom down by 0.64%, Healthcare down by 0.26%, Oil & Gas down by 0.16%, TECK was down by 0.10% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 4.63%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 4.15%, TCS up by 3.07%, Coal India up by 2.86% and Hero MotoCorp was up by 2.36%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 3.45%, Sun Pharma down by 1.14%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.76%, ONGC down by 0.48% and HDFC was down by 0.28% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) in its latest report for December 2018 has indicated that as many as 344 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or above, have reported cost overrun of Rs 3.16 lakh crore, mainly due to delays and other reasons. Of these 1,424 projects monitored by the MOSPI, 344 reported cost overruns and 384 time escalation.

According to the report, the expenditure incurred on these projects till December 2018 was Rs 8,06,997.78 crore, which is 37.82 percent of the anticipated cost of the projects. However, it said the number of delayed projects decreases to 326 if delay is calculated on the basis of latest schedule of completion. For 686 projects, neither the year of commissioning nor the tentative gestation period has been reported. Out of 384 delayed projects, 113 projects have overall delay in the range of 1 to 12 months, 61 are delayed by 13 to 24 months, 101 reflect delay of 25 to 60 months and 109 projects show 61 months and above delay. The average time overrun in these 384 delayed projects is 44.78 months.

The report attributes the time overrun to a host of issues, including land acquisition, forest clearance and supply of equipment, fund constraint, Maoist incursion, legal cases and law and order situation. Besides, there are other reasons like fund constraints, geological surprises, geo-mining conditions, slow progress in civil works, shortage of labour, inadequate mobilisation by the contractor, Maoist problems, court cases, contractual issues, ROU/ROW (right of use/right of way) problems, among others. It also observed that project agencies are not reporting revised cost estimates and commissioning schedules for many projects, which suggests that time/cost overrun figures are under-reported.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11669.80, up by 26.35 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 11648.25 and 11679.95. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 4.58%, TCS up by 3.03%, Coal India up by 2.45%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.41% and Tata Steel was up by 2.28%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 3.51%, Sun Pharma down by 1.27%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 0.90%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.88% and Bharti Infratel was down by 0.72% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading in green; Hang Seng increased 91.41 points or 0.31% to 30,001.17, Shanghai Composite gained 31.81 points or 1% to 3,220.44, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 70.30 points or 0.65% to 10,875.60, Straits Times advanced 0.74 points or 0.02% to 3,332.72, Jakarta Composite soared 29.32 points or 0.46% to 6,435.19, KOSPI rose 8.29 points or 0.37% to 2,241.74 and Nikkei 225 was up by 303.92 points or 1.39% to 22,174.48.