Sensex, Nifty turn positive in late noon deals

Indian equity indices turned positive in late afternoon session, overlooking weak European markets. Markets participants were taking support with a report that the gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections increased to Rs 1.02 lakh crore in the month of July 2019. The July mop-up was 5.8 per cent higher than the Rs 96,483 crore collected in the same month last year. In June 2019, the GST collection was Rs 99,939 crore. Some support also came, with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) latest data report showed that bank credit rose by 12.01 percent to Rs 96.57 trillion, while deposits grew 10.59 percent to Rs 126.491 trillion in the fortnight ended on July 19. In the year ago fortnight, deposits were at Rs 114.371 trillion and advances stood at Rs 86.09 trillion.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, after Italy's industrial production declined for the fourth month in a row in June and the pace doubled. The data from the statistical office ISTAT showed that industrial production declined a working day adjusted 1.2 percent year-on-year in June, following a 0.6 percent fall in May. Asian markets were also trading in red.

Back home, IT industry stocks were trading in green, as Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways, Piyush Goyal said that the government of India will give all support for the global growth of India’s IT industry and will make all efforts to facilitate the IT service industry & for that it is ready to engage with China and also Japan and Korea.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37201.38, up by 183.06 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 36607.41 and 37375.16. There were 19 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.23%, while Small cap index was down by 0.15%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 3.66%, Auto up by 1.11%, Consumer Disc up by 0.86%, Consumer Durables up by 0.84% and TECK up by 0.58%, while Metal down by 1.33%, PSU down by 1.00%, Oil & Gas down by 0.60%, Power down by 0.36% and Realty down by 0.23% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 5.91%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.58%, Asian Paints up by 2.49%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.22% and HDFC up by 2.11%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.15%, Tata Steel down by 1.68%, Vedanta down by 1.61%, HCL Tech. down by 1.51% and NTPC down by 1.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways, Piyush Goyal has said that the government of India will give all support for the global growth of India’s IT industry and will make all efforts to facilitate the IT service industry & for that it is ready to engage with China and also Japan and Korea. The Minister urged India’s IT services companies to explore new markets and not be inhibited in operating in countries that are non-English speaking.

Commerce and Industry Minister also urged the top five Indian IT firms (TCS, Wipro, Infosys, Tech Mahindra and HCL) to create a corpus that will be spent on training manpower in languages like Mandarin, Japanese and Korean for accessing the markets in these countries.

Meanwhile, Piyush Goyal held a meeting with senior managers of IT companies in New Delhi to discuss opportunities for Indian IT companies to invest and grow their business in new markets like the Nordic countries, Eastern and Central Europe, Canada, Australia and Africa and also explore avenues for greater investments and growth in East Asian markets like China, Japan and Korea.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11015.45, up by 35.45 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 10848.95 and 11080.15. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 5.91%, Asian Paints up by 2.59%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.54%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.19% and Eicher Motors up by 2.09%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 2.85%, Coal India down by 2.15%, ONGC down by 1.94%, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 1.90% and Tata Steel down by 1.87% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng decreased 625.79 points or 2.27% to 26,939.91, Taiwan Weighted dropped 182.71 points or 1.7% to 10,549.04, Shanghai Composite declined 37.33 points or 1.28% to 2,871.44, Straits Times trembled 26.41 points or 0.8% to 3,265.34, KOSPI fell 19.21 points or 0.95% to 1,998.13, Jakarta Composite lost 52.19 points or 0.82% to 6,329.35 and Nikkei 225 was down by 453.83 points or 2.11% to 21,087.16.

All European markets were trading in red; FTSE lost 156.88 points or 2.07% to 7,427.99, CAC fell 154.26 points or 2.78% to 5,403.15 and DAX was down by 315.30 points or 2.57% to 11,937.85.