Local equities gather traction in morning session

Local equity benchmarks have gathered pace and maintained their upward momentum in morning session due to increased buying by funds. Traders were encouraged with Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that with a view to tackle a slowdown in economy, the Narendra Modi government might come out with a stimulus for the trade and industry. Sentiments got boosted with Fitch Solutions’ report that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to cut interest rates by 40 basis points before the end of the current financial year as monetary easing till now appears to be insufficient in boosting economic growth. Market participants also took note of a report that India’s exposure to the US government securities rose by nearly $6 billion to $162.7 billion at the end of June, the highest level in at least one year. Local investors cheered with a report that monsoon rains in India in the week through August 14 were above average for a third straight week. The cumulative rainfall till August 14 was 0.1% above long-term average with the weekly rainfall 45.1% above long-term average owing to heavy rainfall across western and central India.

On the global front, Asian peers were trading mostly in green as investors continue to rejigger their read on President Donald Trump’s trade war and growing worries about slowing economies around the world. Back home, on the sectoral front, the aviation industry stocks were in focus as the Aviation Ministry formed a committee to rationalise additional taxes that airlines have to pay while uplifting Air Turbine Fuel (ATF) at airports across India.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37673.60, up by 323.27 points or 0.87% after trading in a range of 37420.52 and 37682.92. There were 25 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.65%, while Small cap index was up by 0.65%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.50%, Healthcare up by 1.41%, Telecom up by 1.32%, FMCG up by 1.18% and Consumer Durables was up by 1.13%, while Metal down by 0.32%, PSU down by 0.24% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.05% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.18%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.83%, NTPC up by 1.70%, ICICI Bank up by 1.69% and ITC was up by 1.54%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 2.11%, Yes Bank down by 1.70%, Tata Steel down by 0.90%, ONGC down by 0.78% and Vedanta was down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with a view to prove support to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME),  Union MSME minister Nitin Gadkari  has promised 'concrete decision' for timely payments to this industry. Delayed payments are a major headache for MSME. The minister said ‘the small scale industry producer never gets payments on time. And this tires and finishes him. I am seriously thinking, whether it is private or public sector or government, the payment of MSME should get released in 45 days, and I am trying to take some concrete decision on this’.

Further, he said that MSME play important role in creation of employment. So far, MSME have given jobs to 11.50 crore youths, and in these five years he is aiming to add five crore more employment opportunities.

Besides, he said promoting entrepreneurship was an important mission of the government, as without it ‘we cannot become 5 trillion dollar economy.’ Meanwhile, expressing concern about the agrarian crisis, he said the MSME ministry was focusing on handloom, handicrafts and agro processing industries.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11134.95, up by 87.15 points or 0.79% after trading in a range of 11068.65 and 11139.55. There were 35 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 3.73%, Sun Pharma up by 3.32%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.46%, NTPC up by 1.87% and Larsen & Toubro was up by 1.83%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 2.01%, Yes Bank down by 1.64%, Tata Steel down by 0.98%, Vedanta down by 0.93% and GAIL India was down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Asian stocks were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 536.27 points or 2.08% to 26,270.49, Nikkei 225 surged 148.21 points or 0.73% to 20,567.02, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 81.48 points or 0.78% to 10,502.37, Shanghai Composite gained 39.68 points or 1.41% to 2,863.50, Straits Times advanced 17.10 points or 0.55% to 3,132.13 and KOSPI was up by 10.76 points or 0.56% to 1,937.93. On the other side, Jakarta Composite was down by 0.61 points or 0.01% to 6,286.05.