Markets continue to trade in high spirit in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in high spirit in early noon session, on account of broad based buying in blue chip counters amid positive Asian cues. Most of the sectoral indices were trading firm and PSU was the top gainer on BSE, up by around 4.40% followed by Capital Goods and Realty indices, trading up over 4.00%. Apart from blue chips, broader indices too equally participated in the rally with both mid and small cap indices trading up by over 2.50% each. The optimism on Dalal Street can be credited to the prospect of a Narendra Modi-led, stable NDA regime at the Centre after general election. As most of the exit polls forecasted another term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with some of them projecting that BJP-led NDA will get more than 300 seats to comfortably cross the majority mark of 272 in the Lok Sabha. Sentiment also got a boost as Industry body Indian Ports Association (IPA) in its latest data has indicated that the 12 major ports in India recorded a growth of 5.65 percent and together handled 60.07 million tonnes (MT) of cargo during the period April 2019 as against 56.86 MT handled during the corresponding period of previous year. The growth in the cargo traffic was mainly attributed to increase in demand from various sectors, including coal, containers and petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL). Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and stock exchanges have beefed up their surveillance mechanism to check any manipulative activities in the market this week in view of the high-octane election related events lined up.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, amid investors tried to catch their breath following another week of escalating trade tensions between the United States and China. Back home, a private report states that the India is looking to fight a lonely battle on global rules for e-commerce trade at the World Trade Organization (WTO) with close to 70 countries siding with the US to have a multilateral mechanism. On scrip specific development, Shares of Titan Company has surged over 2%, extending its around 8% rally in last week, as the company has reported a rise of 14.42% in its net profit at Rs 348.30 crore for the quarter under review as compared to Rs 304.41 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38891.10, up by 960.33 points or 2.53% after trading in a range of 38570.04 and 38909.79. There were 29 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 2.81%, while Small cap index was up by 2.72%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 4.40%, Capital Goods up by 4.34%, Realty up by 4.11%, Industrials up by 4.03%, Energy up by 3.80%, while IT was down by 0.26% was the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 6.54%, Larsen & Toubro up by 5.31%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 5.26%, Indusind Bank up by 5.11% and ICICI Bank was up by 5.01%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.13% and Infosys was down by 0.94% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister's (EAC-PM) member Shamika Ravi has said that India needs to make all efforts to reach double-digit Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth and should not treat 7 percent increase as the 'new normal'. She explained “the new normal of 7 percent or perhaps weakening further because of the global trends cannot be the new normal for a country with per capita income that we do have.”

Ravi also asserted that there needs to be reinforcement of mechanisms through which India can continue to aspire for double digit growth. She maintained that India is unlikely to fall into the middle income trap. She also said 'I don't think India can afford that (middle income trap). I don't think India is going to fall into the middle income trap like Brazil or South Africa.”

The EAC-PM member further said that India should not lose fiscal discipline which it maintained during the last five years of the Narendra Modi government. She pointed out that states which are ranked high in ease of doing business have low unemployment rate compared to the all-India average. She stated that it is important to realise that the recipe for job creation will also eventually come through entrepreneurship and noted that the government cannot be final provider of jobs.” She also stressed on the need to improve fundamental quality of India's data systems.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11684.30, up by 277.15 points or 2.43% after trading in a range of 11591.70 and 11699.95. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing up by 6.91%, SBI up by 6.36%, Adani Ports &Special up by 6.29%, Grasim Industries up by 6.18% and Larsen & Toubro was up by 5.36%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 6.74%, Zee Entertainment down by 3.01%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.40%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.05% and Infosys was down by 0.96% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI rose 1.77 points or 0.09% to 2,057.57, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 7.50 points or 0.07% to 10,391.61, Jakarta Composite soared 39.55 points or 0.68% to 5,866.42 and Nikkei 225 was up by 55.16 points or 0.26% to 21,305.25.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 24.36 points or 0.85% to 2,857.94 and Hang Seng was down by 191.84 points or 0.69% to 27,754.62.