Bourses continue to trade in positive terrain

Indian stock markets continued to trade in positive terrain in the early noon session due to buying in Metal, IT, and Oil & Gas stocks. Buying in frontline stocks such as Tata Steel, Axis Bank, TCS and NTPC were aiding sentiment, while selling in Tata Motors - DVR, Maruti Suzuki and Kotak Mahindra Bank kept the gains in the markets in check. Investors took support as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest data showed that bank credit rose by 14.19% to Rs 96.45 lakh crore, while deposits grew 10.60% to Rs 125.30 lakh crore in the first fortnight ended on April 12. In the year ago fortnight, deposits were at Rs 113.29 lakh crore and advances stood at Rs 84.46 lakh crore. The sentiments were positive as the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has allowed businesses to apply for revocation of cancellation of their Goods and Services Tax (GST) registrations by July 22, provided they file their pending returns and pay due tax. These businesses earlier had their GST registrations cancelled due to non-filing of tax returns.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as an unexpected tumble in Japanese industrial production, following contraction in South Korea’s GDP, underscored that economies outside the U.S. and China aren’t doing as well. Back on street, in scrip specific development, Tata Steel edged up as the company has received approval to merge Bamnipal Steel and Tata Steel BSL (formerly Bhushan Steel) into the Company by way of a composite scheme of amalgamation and have recommended a merger ratio of 1 equity share of Rs 10 each fully paid up of the Company for every 15 equity shares of each fully paid up held by the public shareholders of Tata Steel BSL.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38787.73, up by 56.87 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 38765.33 and 38897.63. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.27%, while Small cap index was down by 0.13%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.28%, IT up by 0.86%, Oil & Gas up by 0.82%, Utilities up by 0.77%, Basic Materials up by 0.71%, while Auto down by 0.88%, Realty down by 0.77%, Consumer Discretionary down by 0.63%, Consumer Durables down by 0.58% and Telecom was down by 0.52% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 6.09%, Axis Bank up by 1.48%, TCS up by 1.06%, NTPC up by 1.05% and Infosys was up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.18%, Tata Motors down by 1.87%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.52%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.21% and Bajaj Finance was down by 0.89% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in view of the growing significance of fintech innovations and their growing interface with the financial sector entities, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das has said that the central bank is strengthening its surveillance framework. He also said that the RBI is continuously aligning its regulatory and supervisory framework so that the evolution of fintech can be leveraged to widen and ease the financial access by the excluded population.

According to RBI Governor, the emergence of fintech/digital innovations is a strong transformative force that can reshape the global financial sector. He pointed out that a big benefit of these technological developments is the scope to expand financial outreach in a cost-effective manner, which in turn can deepen financial inclusion. Taking cognisance of the exponential growth of digitisation and online commerce, he said policy efforts are directed to put in place a state-of-the-art national payments infrastructure and technology platform.

Das further said that the central bank recently released a draft ‘Enabling Framework for Regulatory Sandbox’ in order to support the country’s rapidly growing fintech space. He noted that a regulatory sandbox usually refers to live testing of new products or services in a controlled/test regulatory environment for which regulators may (or may not) permit certain regulatory relaxations for the limited purpose of the testing.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11669.95, up by 28.15 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 11661.75 and 11697.55. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 6.25%, JSW Steel up by 2.60%, BPCL up by 2.44%, GAIL India up by 2.29% and Cipla was up by 2.01%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.87%, Grasim Industries down by 1.69%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.57%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.94% and Bajaj Finance was down by 0.90% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; KOSPI fell 10.75 points or 0.49% to 2,179.75, Shanghai Composite declined 2.45 points or 0.08% to 3,121.38, Taiwan Weighted dropped 87.39 points or 0.79% to 10,952.47, Nikkei 225 slipped 44.43 points or 0.2% to 22,263.15 and Hang Seng was up by 38.22 points or 0.13% to 29,588.02.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 2.90 points or 0.05% to 6,375.69 and Straits Times was up by 2.85 points or 0.09% to 3,353.13.