Barometer gauges maintain gains in early noon session

Indian equity markets maintained their upward momentum in the early noon session and continued to trade on positive bias amid strong foreign fund inflow. Healthy buying was observed in blue-chip stocks like Yes Bank, Tata Motors - DVR, Bharti Airtel and Larsen & Toubro. Sentiments remained up-beat as the Finance Ministry, giving relief to composition scheme taxpayers under the Goods and Services Tax (GST), has allowed such businesses to file ‘self-assessed tax’ return on quarterly basis in a simplified form. As per a Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) notification, composition scheme taxpayers will now file GSTR-4 annually by April 30 for the previous financial year ending March 31. Investors also took support as the Finance Ministry has introduced several changes in the electronic way or e-way bill system, ranging from auto calculation of distance based on PIN codes for generation of e-way bill to barring businesses from generating multiple e-way bills based on one invoice, as it seeks to cracks down evasion in the goods and services tax (GST) framework. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank has exited the National Housing Bank (NHB) and the National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (Nabard), by selling its entire stakes to government for Rs 1,450 crore and Rs 20 crore, respectively, making them fully government-owned.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after surprise deterioration in German business morale triggered fears of slowing global growth. Back home, experts from the UK and India have concluded that harnessing smartphone technology which could help Indian farmers not only make better business decisions but also tackle the sustainable cooling challenges being faced by the country. In scrip specific development, Coromandel International rose on reporting 23% rise in its net profit at Rs 110.38 crore for the quarter under review as compared to Rs 89.61 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39186.29, up by 131.61 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 39009.72 and 39202.65. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.28%, while Small cap index was up by 0.52%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Basic Materials up by 1.32%, Consumer Durables up by 0.72%, Utilities up by 0.70%, Power up by 0.67% and Energy was up by 0.65%, while Telecom down by 0.46%, Auto down by 0.32%, Metal down by 0.29%, TECK down by 0.24% and IT was down by 0.19% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 4.08%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.20%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.08%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.00% and Power Grid Corporation was up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 1.03%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.75%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.59%, Tata Steel down by 0.55% and Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 0.55% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings in its latest report has stated the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is the first central bank in the Asia-Pacific region to start an explicit interest rate easing cycle buoyed by benign food inflation and easier global financial conditions following the US Fed's shift to a more dovish policy stance.  The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, cut rates in February and April citing prospects of benign inflation. In the four months of 2019, the RBI has cut policy interest rates twice by 0.25 percent each to one-year low of 6 percent. It was the first back-to-back rate cut by the central bank since the MPC was formed in late 2016.

According to the report, consumer price inflation at 2.9 percent has remained below the RBI's comfort zone of 4 percent (+/- 2 percent). It said ‘Fitch's baseline is for the RBI to remain on hold for the remainder of 2019, although we acknowledge the central bank may look for opportunities for further easing’. Adding further, it noted that modest fiscal slippage relative to the central government's own targets in recent years has resulted in a stalling of fiscal consolidation. It added that campaign promises to support farmers' incomes, including direct cash transfers and farm loan waivers will, moreover, add to spending pressures in current fiscal.

The rating agency has stated that significant and politically difficult fiscal deficit reduction would be key to meet the general government debt ceiling of 60 percent of GDP by FY25 from a Fitch-estimated 68.8 percent of GDP in FY19. It pointed out that India's ratings balance a strong medium-term growth outlook and relative external resilience with strong foreign reserve buffers, against high public debt, financial sector fragilities and some lagging structural factors.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11785.20, up by 59.05 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 11715.95 and 11785.60. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 5.00%, Grasim Industries up by 4.45%, Yes Bank up by 4.04%, UPL up by 2.10% and BPCL was up by 1.93%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 3.05%, Vedanta down by 1.00%, Eicher Motors down by 0.80%, GAIL India down by 0.64% and Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 0.60% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 21.25 points or 0.07% to 29,784.58, KOSPI fell 10.44 points or 0.47% to 2,190.59, Jakarta Composite dropped 65.12 points or 1.01% to 6,382.77, Shanghai Composite declined 26.55 points or 0.83% to 3,175.06 and Straits Times was down by 4.37 points or 0.13% to 3,358.06.

On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 17.51 points or 0.16% to 11,045.15 and Nikkei 225 was up by 124.22 points or 0.56% to 22,324.22.