Sensex, Nifty hold gains in late afternoon session

Indian equity bourses were holding their strong gains in late afternoon session, despite weak cues from European markets. The street remained optimistic, as the commerce ministry laid out an online system for claiming benefits under Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) scheme, aimed at promoting exports of agri goods. Besides, India’s Wholesale price index (WPI) inflation fell to a multi-year low of 1.08% in the month of July, on account of cheaper fuel and food items.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, as Eurozone economic growth halved in the second quarter, as initially estimated. The flash estimate from Eurostat showed that gross domestic product grew 0.2 percent sequentially, following the first quarter's 0.4 percent expansion. The rate was in line with the estimate released on July 31. However, Asian markets were trading in green.

Back home, pharma stocks were in watch, amid reports that Indian pharmaceutical industry can achieve a target of double-digit growth by 2030 through a host of measures including regulatory support from government like increase in budgetary allocations for healthcare and promotion of innovation.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37355.84, up by 397.68 points or 1.08% after trading in a range of 37000.77 and 37473.61. There were 25 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.69%, while Small cap index was up by 0.27%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.80%, Telecom up by 2.24%, Basic Materials up by 2.14%, Oil & Gas up by 1.45% and Energy up by 1.33%, while Healthcare down by 0.80% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 5.15%, Vedanta up by 4.94%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.33%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.01% and Hero MotoCorp up by 2.91%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 4.93%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.92%, Tata Motors down by 1.11%, ONGC down by 0.82% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.78% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, snapping five-month rising trend, India’s retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) eased marginally to 3.15% in the month of July 2019, on the back of softening fuel and light prices, even as inflation in the overall food basket moved up. CPI was 3.18% in June 2019, while it stood at 4.17% in July 2018. Also, inflation stayed below the RBI’s medium-term target of 4% for an eleventh straight month. The overall food inflation, measured on consumer food price index (CFPI) moved up to 2.36% in July from 2.25% in June 2019 and 1.30% in July 2018.

As per the data of the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme, the CPI (Rural, Urban, Combined) on Base 2012=100 for July 2019, stood at 2.19%, 4.22% and 3.15%, respectively, compared to 4.11%, 4.32% and 4.17%, respectively in July 2018. The index value of CPI for combined stood at 144.2. The data also showed that CFPI for all India Rural and Urban for July 2019 stood at 0.57% and 5.61%, respectively, compared to 2.18% and -0.36%, respectively in July 2018. The index value of CFPI for combined stood at 143.4 for the month of July.

The rate of price rise in vegetables softened to 2.82% during the latest month as against a rise of 4.66% in June, while prices of 'pulses and products' went up to 6.82% from 5.68%. In case of fruits, the price trend showed upside movement with an inflation print of (-) 0.86% as against (-) 4.18% a month earlier. Prices of protein-rich 'meat and fish' rose at nearly the same level at 9.05% from 9.01% in June, however, inflation in eggs eased to 0.57% against 1.62%. In fuel and light category, deflation was witnessed with a print at (-) 0.36%, as against a rise of 2.32% a month ago.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11037.35, up by 111.50 points or 1.02% after trading in a range of 10935.60 and 11078.15. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 5.23%, Vedanta up by 5.12%, Tata Steel up by 5.00%, Zee Entertainment up by 4.08% and JSW Steel up by 3.75%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 5.12%, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 2.72%, Wipro down by 2.65%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 2.28% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.87% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading higher; Taiwan Weighted strengthened 65.07 points or 0.63% to 10,427.73, Nikkei 225 surged 199.69 points or 0.98% to 20,655.13, KOSPI rose 12.54 points or 0.65% to 1,938.37, Jakarta Composite soared 34.04 points or 0.55% to 6,245.00, Straits Times advanced 0.33 points or 0.01% to 3,147.06, Shanghai Composite gained 12.53 points or 0.45% to 2,809.79 and Hang Seng was up by 51.71 points or 0.2% to 25,333.01.

All European markets were trading in red; FTSE lost 20.42 points or 0.28% to 7,230.48, CAC fell 39.32 points or 0.73% to 5,323.75 and DAX was down by 84.38 points or 0.72% to 11,665.75.