Markets trade higher with marginal gains in early deals

Indian equity markets made a positive start and are trading in green with marginal gains in early deals on Thursday, as traders remained on sidelines eyeing on new government formation and ministry allocation as Narendra Modi is set to take oath as the prime minister of India for the second term. Traders took some support with a report that the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has proposed to formulate a national retail policy to support growth of domestic trade. A national retail policy will be formulated to support development of the sector that would benefit 65 million small traders. Market participants took note of a private report that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may leave repo rate unchanged next week due to uncertainty over oil prices, monsoon, weak transmission of monetary policy and on expected pick-up in inflation. It added that the central bank will also evaluate the implications of policies of the new government for growth and inflation. However, gains remain capped as traders looking ahead for the Q4 GDP data to be released on May 31, while there are expectations that numbers are likely to be weak.

On the global front, the US markets declined on Wednesday as worries about slowing economic growth spurred coupled with trade tensions between the China-US. Asian markets are trading mostly lower on Thursday as rhetoric from Beijing and Washington over trade matters kept alive investor concerns about the tariff war's impact on global economic growth.

Back home, a private report stated that the new government’s immediate priority will be to examine why gross domestic product (GDP) growth has declined so rapidly from 8.2% in April-June 2018 to the 6.2% in April-June 2019 that has been forecast by research analysts in banks and credit rating agencies. In scrip specific developments, IOC gained on signing MoU with Punjab's Cooperation Department to open retail outlets and Bharti Airtel inched up on completing amalgamation of Bharti Digital Networks with itself.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39575.89, up by 73.84 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 39500.56 and 39608.41. There were 20 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.05%, while Small cap index was up by 0.06%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.80%, Energy up by 0.69%, Power up by 0.55%, Healthcare up by 0.53% and TECK was up by 0.49%, while Auto down by 0.34%, Capital Goods down by 0.25%, Consumer Disc down by 0.16%, Basic Materials down by 0.10% and Metal was down by 0.10% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.89%, NTPC up by 1.80%, Coal India up by 1.57%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.17% and TCS was up by 1.03%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.19%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.71%, Sun Pharma Industries down by 0.67%, Vedanta down by 0.66% and HDFC was down by 0.65% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to support growth of domestic trade, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has proposed to formulate a national retail policy. This proposal is part of the 100-day action plan prepared by the department, under the commerce and industry ministry, for the new government. The national retail policy will be formulated to support development of the sector that would benefit 65 million small traders.

In February, the subject of domestic or internal trade was shifted to DPIIT from the consumer affairs ministry, which was earlier the nodal agency for regulating the fast-growing sector. The department is already in the process of formulating guidelines on e-commerce and, hence, it would be appropriate for the ministry to come out with norms for retail trade.

Domestic traders' body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has time and again requested the government for the policy. It has said these steps will not only strengthen the domestic trade but also improve export performance of the country. According to CAIT, over 6.5 crore small businesses are engaged in the sector across the country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11874.60, up by 13.50 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 11859.40 and 11889.10. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 1.83%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.61%, TCS up by 1.22%, Coal India up by 1.14% and Indiabulls Housing was up by 0.86%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 1.77%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.54%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.18%, Bharti Infratel down by 0.98% and Maruti Suzuki was down by 0.89% were the top losers.

Asian Market are mostly trading in red Nikkei 225 slipped 139.81 points or 0.67% to 20,863.56, Hang Seng decreased 114.58 points or 0.42% to 27,121.13, Shanghai Composite declined 24.12 points or 0.83% to 2,890.58 and Straits Times was down by 23.57 points or 0.75% to 3,139.71. On the flip side, KOSPI rose 7.59 points or 0.38% to 2,030.91 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 66.41 points or 0.64% to 10,368.19.