Rally continues on Dalal Street

Gaining rally continued on the Dalal Street in late afternoon deals, with both larger peers, Sensex and Nifty, garnering around a percent each, despite weak opening of European markets. Trading sentiments remained optimistic, as the 15th Finance Commission, chaired by N K Singh, observed that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers suggest continued high growth over the medium term despite there have been fluctuations within the overall global trend. The Commission also noted that the revenue projections on direct taxes are healthy though on indirect taxes, there have been periodic fluctuations. Market participants paid no heed towards credit rating agency Ind-Ra’s latest report stating that the rise in US-China trade tensions could lead to dumping of Chinese goods and weaker flow of foreign investment from the United States to emerging markets, including India.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, as Italy's consumer price inflation rose in April. The data from the statistical office ISTAT showed that the consumer price index rose 1.1 percent year-on-year in April, following a 1.0 percent increase in March. Inflation was driven by a surge in prices of transport, recreation and of non-regulated energy products. Asian markets were also trading in red with investors reacted to conflicting reports about trade talks between the world's two largest economies. According to reports, China's state media signaled a lack of interest in resuming trade talks with the US under the current threat to escalate tariffs.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37764.57, up by 371.09 points or 0.99% after trading in a range of 37415.36 and 37877.19. There were 19 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.97%, while Small cap index was up was by 0.44%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.96%, Auto up by 1.53%, Capital Goods up by 1.39%, Bankex up by 1.37% and Consumer Disc up by 1.26%, while Healthcare down by 1.02%, Metal down by 0.83%, IT down by 0.77%, TECK down by 0.59% and Basic Materials down by 0.11% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 5.15%, Hero MotoCorp up by 3.45%, Hindustan Unilever up by 3.01%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.60% and Maruti Suzuki up by 2.50%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.02%, Sun Pharma down by 1.13%, Infosys down by 1.12%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.96% and HCL Tech. down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an efforts towards a 'cash-lite' society, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released a latest vision document for ensuring a safe, secure, convenient, quick and affordable e-payment system as it expects the number of digital transactions to increase more than four times to 8,707 crore in December 2021.

The new released document 'Payment and Settlement Systems in India: Vision 2019 - 2021' envisages to achieve a highly digital and cash-lite society through the goal posts of competition, cost effectiveness, convenience and confidence (4Cs). The previous vision document covered the period 2016 to 2018.

According to the latest vision document, payment systems like UPI/IMPS are likely to register average annualised growth of over 100% and NEFT at 40% over the vision period (period up to December 2021). Besides, the number of digital transactions is expected to increase more than four times from 2,069 crore in December 2018 to 8,707 crore in December 2021.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11362.75, up by 105.65 points or 0.94% after trading in a range of 11259.85 and 11393.80. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 5.20%, Bajaj Finserv up by 4.36%, Hero MotoCorp up by 3.18%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.90% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.64%. On the flip side, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 2.42%, Vedanta down by 2.29%, Hindalco down by 2.08%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.50% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.46% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng fell 324.86 points or 1.15% to 27,950.21, Taiwan Weighted dropped 90.50 points or 0.86% to 10,384.11, Shanghai Composite declined 65.22 points or 2.21% to 2,890.49, Jakarta Composite lost 24.13 points or 0.41% to 5,871.61, Straits Times trembled 19.31 points or 0.6% to 3,210.95 and KOSPI was down by11.89 points or 0.58% to 2,055.80. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was up by 187.11 points or 0.89% to 21,250.09.

All European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC lost 30.38 points or 0.56% to 5,417.73, Germany’s DAX slipped 97.89 points or 0.80% to 12,212.48 and UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 33.77 points or 0.46% to 7,319.74.