Key indices trade near day's high

Indian equity markets added gains to continue firm trade, hovering near the highest point of the day, in the afternoon session, bolstered by reports that the government may exempt foreign portfolio investors from additional surcharge. Sentiments remained up-beat with report that giving a relief to startups, the government has laid out a procedure to address pending angel tax assessments under which action would be taken only after approval of a supervisory officer. Rupee's rise against the US dollar and improved global sentiment too propped up the domestic sentiment. Traders also took a note of India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report stating that the huge Rs 3 trillion capital infusion by the government into Public Sector Banks (PSBs) between FY14 and FY19 has helped them cut losses but has failed to contribute meaningfully to credit growth. On the sectoral front, select retail sector stocks were trading in green as CARE Ratings expects the retail industry to register growth rate of about 12-14 percent over the next 3 years to $1,150 billion by 2021.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after data showed Japan’s economy grew at a faster-than-expected pace in the June-ended second quarter. The economy expanded at an annualized rate of 1.8%, beating analysts’ estimates of 0.4% growth. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37747.76, up by 420.40 points or 1.13% after trading in a range of 37406.26 and 37761.47. There were 24 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.32%, while Small cap index up by 1.43%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Basic Materials up by 2.05%, Energy up by 1.53%, Realty up by 1.43%, Bankex up by 1.43% and Auto was up by 1.41%, while Telecom was down by 0.18% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 3.97%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.81%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.43%, HDFC up by 2.37% and Larsen & Toubro was up by 1.96%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 2.80%, ITC down by 1.05%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.73%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.45% and Tata Motors was down by 0.44% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said that India's domestic air passenger traffic grew 7.9 percent in June 2019 compared to the year-ago period. It also indicated that the average demand for domestic travel across seven major aviation markets climbed 4.4 percent in June as compared to June 2018, which was a slight slowdown from 4.7 percent annual growth recorded in May.

IATA further highlighted that the overall global passenger traffic (domestic and international) rose by 5 percent compared to June 2018. It also observed that all regions recorded increase in growth, led by airlines in Africa with capacity increasing 3.4 percent, and load factor increasing by 1.6 percentage points to 83.8 percent, in the reporting month.

IATA said June continued the trend of solid passenger demand growth while the record load factor shows that airlines are maximizing efficiency. It also said amid continuing trade tensions between the US and China, and rising economic uncertainty in other regions, growth was not as strong as a year ago.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11160.85, up by 128.40 points or 1.16% after trading in a range of 11062.80 and 11170.10. There were 38 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 11.33%, Vedanta up by 3.93%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.66%, Eicher Motors up by 3.51% and Grasim Industries was up by 3.06%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 2.86%, ITC down by 1.14%, GAIL India down by 0.82%, Coal India down by 0.80% and Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 0.66% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 91.47 points or 0.44% to 20,684.82, KOSPI rose 17.14 points or 0.89% to 1,937.75 and Jakarta Composite was up by 6.12 points or 0.1% to 6,280.79.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 19.53 points or 0.7% to 2,775.02 and Hang Seng was down by 71.05 points or 0.27% to 26,049.72.