Bourses hold gains; Realty stocks lead

Indian equity bourses were holding their gains in late afternoon session, tracking firm European markets. Gains led by Realty, Telecom and Banking stocks, supported the markets to maintain their gaining momentum. Market participants were optimistic with Union minister Nitin Gadkari’s statement that development has always been the top agenda of the government and the centre has given impetus to infrastructure projects in the last five years. Some support also came with a report that India was the biggest recipient of funds from Asian Development Bank last year and would continue to get sovereign loans in excess of $3 billion in 2019 as well. The multilateral funding institution committed $3 billion in sovereign loans to India in 2018, the highest level of assistance since sovereign operations began in the country in 1986.

On the sectoral front, sugar stocks were in limelight, after the industry body ISMA said that sugar output in India has reached 32.11 million tonne in the first seven months of the ongoing marketing year that started October 2018 and the total production could touch a new record of 33 million tonne. The country's sugar output during the 2017-18 marketing year (October-September) was a record 32.5 million tonne.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, after Bank of England policymakers unanimously decided to hold the key interest rate and asset purchases unchanged and raised the growth outlook, while reiterating that policymakers would always aim to achieve the 2 percent inflation target. In its May Inflation Report, the bank raised the first quarter growth projection to 0.5 percent from 0.3 percent predicted in February. However, Asian markets were trading mixed.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39058.61, up by 77.18 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 38961.76 and 39172.76. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.03%, while Small cap index was down by 0.15%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.75%, Telecom up by 1.23%, Bankex up by 1.13%, Power up by 0.86% and Auto up by 0.73%, while IT down by 1.66%, TECK down by 1.30%, FMCG down by 0.69%, Healthcare down by 0.45% and Basic Materials down by 0.09% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.13%, NTPC up by 1.95%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.77%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.56% and Yes Bank up by 1.27%. On the flip side, TCS down by 3.06%, HCL Tech. down by 1.94%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.59%, Tata Steel down by 1.17% and Infosys down by 0.58% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, highlighting efforts being taken by the government for development in the country, Union minister Nitin Gadkari has said development has always been the top agenda of the government and the centre has given impetus to infrastructure projects in the last five years.

The minister also said that the government's thrust has been on diversification of agriculture into energy and power sector, further noting that the government has changed India's image.

Gadkari also pointed towards potential of alternate clean fuels in the country and added that can generate a large number of jobs and benefit the farmers. He further said that in my ministry, there has been time-bound, result-oriented, corruption-free execution of projects. Besides, he said ‘Credit for this does not go to us, but the people who have elected us.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11739.80, up by 15.05 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 11719.65 and 11770.90. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 3.32%, NTPC up by 2.07%, ICICI Bank up by 1.87%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.80% and Bharti Infratel up by 1.57%. On the flip side, TCS down by 3.31%, Britannia down by 2.80%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.25%, HCL Tech. down by 1.91% and Zee Entertainment down by 1.52% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted gained 91.81 points or 0.83% to 11,096.30, Hang Seng increased 83.37 points or 0.28% to 30,027.55 and Straits Times advanced 2.22 points or 0.07% to 3,395.55. On the flip side, KOSPI fell 16.43 points or 0.74% to 2,196.32 and Jakarta Composite dropped 87.57 points or 1.37% to 6,286.85.

All European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 gained 51.34 points or 0.70% to 7,402.65, France’s CAC rose 18.26 points or 0.33% to 5,557.12 and Germany’s DAX was up by 47.00 points or 0.38% to 12,392.42.