Barometer gauges maintain gains in early noon session

Stock markets were trading in fine fettle in the early noon session due to buying in Telecom, Capital Goods and Industrials sectors. Healthy buying was observed in blue-chip stocks like Yes Bank, Bharti Airtel and Power Grid Corporation. Investors got encouragement as the overall goods and services tax (GST) collections for the first month of the financial year 2019-20 came in at Rs 1.13 lakh crore, the highest level for any month since the comprehensive indirect tax’s launch in July 2017 and exactly in keeping with the Centre’s budget projection for the year. Some comfort also came with the rating agency ICRA’s latest report stating that the cement demand in India is expected to grow by 8 percent in the financial year 2019-20, which may result in an improvement in the industry's utilisation to 71 percent in FY20 from 65 percent in FY18. Meanwhile, Iraq has for the second year in a row become India's top crude oil supplier, meeting more than a fifth of the country's oil needs in 2018-19 fiscal year.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in mixed, as forecast-beating earnings from Apple provided a much-needed bounce for the tech sector, though energy companies dropped on concerns about slowing US oil demand as supplies climb. Back home, subsidized cooking gas (LPG) price was hiked by 28 paisa per cylinder and will costs over Rs 82 more than the rate in 2014. Also, Jet fuel (ATF) price was hiked by over 2.5 per cent, the third straight monthly increase in rates on the back of firming global prices. Meanwhile, the monthly sales numbers for the auto companies have started trickling in, as Maruti Suzuki India has reported total sales of 143,245 units in April 2019, as compared 172,986 units in April 2018, registering fall of 17.2%.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39134.19, up by 102.64 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 38882.99 and 39189.95. There were 17 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.19%, while Small cap index was up by 0.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.25%, Capital Goods up by 1.08%, Industrials up by 0.70%, Energy up by 0.51 and Power was up by 0.49%, while IT down by 1.05%, TECK down by 0.69%, Consumer Durables down by 0.15%, Healthcare down by 0.13%, Oil & Gas was down by 0.08% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 4.85%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.39%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.77%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.57% and Bajaj Finance was up by 1.49%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 1.55%, ICICI Bank down by 1.42%, Infosys down by 1.36%, TCS down by 1.36% and Tata Motors was down by 1.33% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the growth of India's eight core sectors has improved marginally to 4.7% in March 2019 against 4.5% in the same month last year, helped by a broad-based recovery in sectors such as cement, refinery products, steel, and coal. According to data released by the ministry of Commerce and Industry, the combined Index of eight core industries stood at 145.0 in March, 2019, which was 4.7% higher compared to the index of March, 2018. Its cumulative growth during April to March, 2018-19 was 4.3%. The Eight Core Industries - coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity - comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). 

Among eight core sectors, Coal production having 10.33% weight rose 9.1% in March, 2019 over March, 2018, and its cumulative index increased by 7.3% during April to March, 2018-19 over corresponding period of the previous year. Petroleum Refinery production having 28.04% weight surged 4.3% in March, 2019 over March, 2018, and its cumulative index increased by 3.1% during April to March, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year.

The Natural Gas production having 6.88% weight increased by 1.4% in March, 2019 over March, 2018, and its cumulative index was up by 0.8% during April to March, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year. Besides, Steel production having 17.92% weight jumped by 6.7% in March, 2019 over March, 2018 and its cumulative index increased by 4.7% during April to March, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year. Electricity generation having 19.85% weight increased by 1.4% in March, 2019 over March, 2018 and its cumulative index increased by 5.1% during April to March, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year.   

Cement production having 5.37% weight jumped 15.7% in March, 2019 over March, 2018 and its cumulative index increased by 13.3% during April to March, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year. Fertilizer production having 2.63% weight increased by 4.3% in March, 2019 over March, 2018, and its cumulative index was up by 0.3% during April to March, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year. Crude Oil production having 8.98% weight decreased by 6.2% in March, 2019 over March, 2018 and its cumulative index fell by 4.1% during April to March, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year.       

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11766.65, up by 18.50 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 11699.55 and 11789.30. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 4.97%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.84%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.31%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.66% and Larsen & Toubro was up by 1.64%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 1.64%, TCS down by 1.61%, Infosys down by 1.50%, ICICI Bank down by 1.47% and HCL Technologies down by 1.47% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in mixed; KOSPI rose 7.49 points or 0.34% to 2,211.08, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 36.76 points or 0.34% to 11,004.49 and Hang Seng was up by 187.88 points or 0.63% to 29,886.99.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite dropped 68.75 points or 1.07% to 6,386.60 and Straits Times was down by 19.91 points or 0.59% to 3,380.29.