Markets trade in green with marginal gains; Sensex above 38,700 mark

Indian equity benchmarks made positive start and are trading with marginal gains in early deals on Tuesday. Investors looking for the third and largest phase of the national election began this morning. Buying in Realty, Healthcare and Energy stocks supported the markets, however weakness in Capital Goods counters capped the upside. Yes Bank and ONGC were the top contributors to the upmove on Sensex. Traders were taking some support with a private report that sales of Indian junk bonds have made a big comeback in 2019, almost tripling to hit a five-year high, boosted by a risk-on rally prompted by a dovish US Federal Reserve that has given the Asia market a record start to the year. Indian companies have sold $3.7 billion in high-yield, or junk-rated, bonds so far this year, an increase of 187% from 2018. However, upside remained capped with a private report indicating that the surging price of oil is an Achilles heel for the Indian economy, complicating its inflation, current account, fiscal balance and currency outlook. It added that for bond markets, the worry is two-pronged with the concern being that high oil prices might pose a fresh risk to the fiscal math, if subsides return, by extension requiring higher borrowing. Also, pipeline inflation risks due to high oil prices further raise the hurdle for rate-cuts.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed on Tuesday, as investors move cautiously ahead of a deluge of corporate results later in the week, while oil prices soared to their highest level since October after the US said it would soon impose sanctions on all buyers of Iranian oil. Back home, aviation stocks were buzzing amid the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data showing that high air fares and capacity constraint decelerated India's domestic air passenger traffic growth in March. As per the data, the air passenger traffic growth rate in March rose to a mere 0.14% to 115.96 lakh from 115.80 lakh reported for the corresponding month of the previous fiscal.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38766.91, up by 121.73 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 38663.53 and 38832.61. 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 0.18%, while Small cap index was up by 0.26%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.12%, Healthcare up by 0.80%, Energy up by 0.78%, Consumer Durables up by 0.69% and Bankex was up by 0.46%, while Capital Goods down by 0.65%, Utilities down by 0.53%, Telecom down by 0.41%, Industrials down by 0.34% and Power was down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 1.89%, ONGC up by 1.77%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.38%, Sun Pharma Industries up by 1.01% and Reliance Industries was up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.06%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.75%, NTPC down by 0.70%, TCS down by 0.69% and Tata Steel was down by 0.50% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) in its latest payroll data has showed that job creation declined by 1.73% in February 2019 to 15.03 lakh compared to 15.30 lakh in the same month last year. The data showed that during September 2017 to February 2019, nearly 3 crore new subscribers joined the ESIC scheme. The ESIC has been releasing payroll data from April 2018, covering the period starting September 2017. The ESIC provides health insurance and medical services to insured persons covering all those establishments which have 20 or more workers and all those employees whose monthly wages are up to Rs 21,000.

As per the data, the gross new subscribers addition remained the highest at 19.81 lakh in July 2018. The data showed that 2.34 lakh women subscribers joined the ESIC scheme in February 2019 while around 12.69 men enrolled under the scheme. The number of subscribers of Employees State Insurance (ESI) scheme also gives an idea of the level of employment in the formal sector.

According to the latest data, the highest job creation was recorded in January 2019 at 8.94 lakh against the provisional estimate of 8.96 lakh released last month. During February 2019, the highest number of 2.36 lakh jobs were created in the 22-25 years age group, followed by 2.09 lakh in the 18-21 years age bracket. The data showed that 80.86 lakh new jobs were created in the 18 months period from September 2017 to February 2019.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11615.60, up by 21.15 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 11592.45 and 11645.95. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 4.20%, Yes Bank up by 1.68%, ONGC up by 1.36%, Indiabulls Housing up by 1.27% and Hero MotoCorp was up by 1.26%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 2.81%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.48%, BPCL down by 1.25%, NTPC down by 0.99% and Adani Ports & SEZ was down by 0.97% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Straits Times trembled 2.18 points or 0.06% to 3,355.52, Nikkei 225 slipped 9.19 points or 0.04% to 22,208.71, Shanghai Composite declined 11.41 points or 0.35% to 3,203.63 and Hang Seng was down by 24.91 points or 0.08% to 29,938.35. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 44.69 points or 0.7% to 6,459.43, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 9.68 points or 0.09% to 10,997.39 and KOSPI was up by 1.26 points or 0.06% to 2,217.91.