Indian markets maintain upward momentum

Indian equity markets maintained their upward momentum in the early noon session and continued to trade on positive bias, following gains in Realty, Power and Auto stocks. Healthy buying was observed in blue-chip stocks like NTPC, Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto. Markets remained upbeat amid expectations of reforms from the upcoming Union Budget to be declared on July 5 where the government is expected to announce measure to kick-start a slowing economy. Further, sentiment also got a boost as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has relaxed the leverage ratio (LR) for them. The leverage ratio stands reduced to 4 per cent for Domestic Systemically Important Banks (DSIBs) and 3.5 per cent for other banks effective from the quarter commencing October 1, 2019.
 
On the global front, Asian markets were trading green as the United States and China agreed to restart trade talks, leading investors to pare wagers on aggressive policy easing by the major central banks. Back on street, in scrip specific development, ABC India edged up on securing order of Rs 137.70 crore from BHEL. Meanwhile, the monthly sales numbers for the auto companies have started trickling in, as Maruti Suzuki India has reported total sales of 124,708 units in June 2019, as compared 144,981 units in June 2018, registering fall of 14%.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39676.58, up by 281.94 points or 0.72% after trading in a range of 39541.09 and 39703.91. There were 26 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.39%, while Small cap index was up by 0.38%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.41%, Power up by 1.26%, Auto up by 1.15%, Utilities up by 0.89%, Healthcare up by 0.83%, while Telecom down by 0.54%, Oil & Gas down by 0.03%, TECK down by 0.02% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 3.04%, Tata Motors up by 1.97%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.83%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.63% and Tata Motors - DVR was up by 1.51%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 0.85%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.20%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.15%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.13% and Tech Mahindra was down by 0.01% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest data has showed that India’s Current account deficit (CAD), the excess of country’s imports over exports, has rose to $57.2 billion or 2.1 percent of GDP for the fiscal year ended March 2019 (FY19) as compared to compared to $48.7 billion or 1.8 percent a year ago, amid a general slowdown in the economy. It also indicated that for FY19, the deficit widened despite a narrowing of the same in the fourth quarter of FY19 to $4.6 billion or 0.7 percent of GDP, as against $27.7 billion or 2.7 percent in the December quarter and $13 billion or 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter of FY18.

According to the data, overall trade performance was the prime influencer for both the contraction in CAD for the March quarter as well as a widening for the full year. It noted that a lower trade deficit of $35.2 billion in the March quarter, compared to $41.6 billion in the year-ago period helped in CAD contraction. Similarly, it said an increase in trade deficit to $180.3 billion for the year as a whole as against $160 billion in the year-ago period led to the widening of the CAD in FY19.

Data further showed that net services receipts increased 5.8 percent to $21.3 billion on the back of a rise in net earnings from telecommunications, computer and information services during the March quarter. Private transfer receipts, representing mainly the remittances by expat Indians, declined by 0.9 percent to $17.9 billion in the March quarter. The net foreign direct investment stood at $6.4 billion in March quarter, the same level as the year-ago period, and rose marginally to $30.7 billion for the year as a whole.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11867.75, up by 78.90 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 11830.80 and 11874.25. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 3.08%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.47%, Indiabulls Housing up by 2.30%, Tata Motors up by 2.09% and Bajaj Auto was up by 1.91%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.39%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 0.99%, HCL Technologies down by 0.88%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.86% and Bharti Infratel was down by 0.62% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading green; Shanghai Composite gained 53.74 points or 1.8% to 3,032.62, KOSPI rose 0.22 points or 0.01% to 2,130.84, Nikkei 225 surged 470.63 points or 2.21% to 21,746.55, Straits Times advanced 45.44 points or 1.37% to 3,367.05, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 168.24 points or 1.57% to 10,899.07 and Jakarta Composite was up by 18.32 points or 0.29% to 6,376.95.