Key indices continue to trade with small gains

Key benchmark indices continued to trade with small gains in afternoon trade, led by buying in Power, Utilities and Realty sector stocks despite weakness in other Asian markets. Some support also came with the Employees' State Insurance Corporation's (ESIC) gross payroll data showing that Job creation was slightly up at 10.88 lakh in April as compared with 10.77 lakh in the year-ago month. Gross new enrolments in 2018-19 stood at 1.49 crore, indicating that these many jobs were created in the financial year. However, further up move got restricted as anxiety remained among the local traders with Former RBI deputy governor Rakesh Mohan said manufacturing growth is not consistent with India's overall economic growth figures. He added that the country cannot grow at 8 per cent without manufacturing sector recording 10 per cent growth. Some cautiousness also remained in markets ahead of June derivatives series expiry due tomorrow.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after top Federal Reserve officials dented hopes for a big interest rate cut next month, while traders are also fretting over this week’s meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39499.00, up by 64.06 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 39319.64 and 39599.40. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.69%, while Small cap index was up by 0.40%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.93%, Utilities up by 1.61%, Realty up by 1.42%, Capital Goods up by 1.04% and Industrials was up by 1.04%, while IT down by 0.17%, TECK down by 0.16%, Oil & Gas down by 0.14%, FMCG down by 0.09% and Telecom was down by 0.08% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.36%, Power Grid up by 2.48%, NTPC up by 1.98%, Yes Bank up by 1.95% and ONGC was up by 1.53%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.70%, HDFC down by 0.63%, Infosys down by 0.62%, Indusind Bank down by 0.52% and Bharti Airtel was down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal has said that the government is planning to bring out a national policy on e-commerce in the next 12 months to facilitate achieving holistic growth of the sector. He said India wants to engage with the world on data and e-commerce issues but there has to be reciprocity.

Goyal stated that several foreign e-commerce firms have raised concerns over some points in the draft pertaining to data. He also said that the government has decided to form an inter-ministerial panel under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) to address stakeholder grievances on FDI and the draft e-commerce policy.

In February, the government had released the draft national e-commerce policy proposing setting up a legal and technological framework for restrictions on cross-border data flow and also laid out conditions for businesses regarding collection or processing of sensitive data locally and storing it abroad.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11816.70, up by 20.25 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 11757.55 and 11839.10. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 3.31%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 2.72%, Power Grid up by 2.36%, NTPC up by 2.35% and Yes Bank was up by 1.91%. On the flip side, Britannia down by 3.64%, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 2.95%, BPCL down by 1.22%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 0.74% and Hero MotoCorp was down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Shanghai Composite declined 10.01 points or 0.34% to 2,972.06, KOSPI fell 2.30 points or 0.11% to 2,119.34, Nikkei 225 slipped 130.16 points or 0.61% to 21,063.65, Straits Times trembled 6.51 points or 0.2% to 3,297.76 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 50.07 points or 0.47% to 10,656.65. On the flip side, Hang Seng increased 33.24 points or 0.12% to 28,219.22 and Jakarta Composite was up by 4.41 points or 0.07% to 6,324.86.