Local equities continue to trade in fine fettle

Local equity benchmarks continued their trade in fine fettle in morning session, with Sensex and Nifty garnering gains of around quarter a percent. Telecom, Realty and BANKEX counters were on the priority list of the buyers. Among heavy-weights IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel and Kotak Mahindra Bank exhibited a smart performance. Traders took some support with Reserve Bank’s statement that it has constituted a working group that will review the regulatory and supervisory framework for core investment companies. Some optimism also came Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s statement that he has urged the employees of his ministry and steel PSUs to contribute to efforts for making India a $5 trillion economy. Besides, a report stated that the Centre has hiked the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy marginally by Rs 65/quintal to Rs 1,815 for the 2019-20 crop year, while rates for oilseeds, pulses and other cereals were raised substantially.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, following a record performance on Wall Street, as investors turned their focus to the upcoming release of US jobs data while hoping for a big Federal Reserve interest rate cut. Back home, Niti Aayog Special Secretary Yaduvendra Mathur stated that telecom operators should be financially sound to build up infrastructure. He also highlighted a need to review the auction architecture as they cannot pay high prices for spectrum.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39939.64, up by 100.39 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 39858.33 and 39976.53. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.23%, while Small cap index up by 0.38%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.60%, Realty up by 1.53%, BANKEX up by 0.74%, Capital Goods up by 0.43% and PSU was up by 0.41%, while Metal down by 0.66%, Consumer Durables down by 0.65%, Utilities down by 0.10%, Auto down by 0.08% and IT was down by 0.05% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were IndusInd Bank up by 2.57%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.11%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.64%, Yes Bank up by 1.25% and SBI was up by 1.05%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.55%, HCL Tech down by 1.33%, NTPC down by 0.45%, Sun Pharma down by 0.40% and Power Grid was down by 0.36% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to improve the ease of doing business and attract investment for spurring growth, the Union Cabinet has approved the Code on Wages Bill which seeks to subsume existing laws related to workers remuneration and enable the Centre to fix minimum wages for the entire country. The Code on Wages is one of the four codes that would subsume 44 labour laws with certain amendments. The four codes will deal with wages, social security, industrial safety and welfare, and industrial relations.

The Code on Wages will replace the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, Minimum Wages Act, 1948, Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, and the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976.  The bill provides that the central government will fix minimum wages for certain sectors, including railways and mines, while the states would be free to set minimum wages for other category of employments.

The code also provides for setting up of a national minimum wage. The central government can set a separate minimum wage for different regions or states. The draft law also says that the minimum wage would be revised every five years.  Besides, the government looks to push the bill for passage in the ongoing session of Parliament. The previous Modi government had introduced the wages code bill in the Lok Sabha on August 10, 2017. The bill was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee which submitted its report on December 18, 2018.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11951.75, up by 35.00 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 11923.65 and 11961.30. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing up by 4.13%, UPL up by 3.48%, IndusInd Bank up by 2.54%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.25% and Kotak Mahindra Bank was up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.45%, Titan Company down by 1.26%, HCL Tech down by 1.21%, Bharti Infratel down by 0.62% and Bajaj Auto was down by 0.51% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 53.24 points or 0.25% to 21,691.40, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 30.80 points or 0.29% to 10,774.57, Jakarta Composite soared 9.93 points or 0.16% to 6,372.55, Straits Times advanced 4.61 points or 0.14% to 3,372.41 and KOSPI was up by 1.18 points or 0.06% to 2,097.20.

On the other hand; Shanghai Composite declined 8.05 points or 0.27% to 3,007.21 and Hang Seng was down by 32.34 points or 0.11% to 28,822.80.