Local bourses hold gains in afternoon deals

The local barometer gauges held their gains of over half a percent each in afternoon session, on continued buying in select bluechips by domestic investors amid positive domestic and global cues. Sentiments on the street remained positive with Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Krishnamurthy Subramanian’s statement  that the ongoing tariff war between the US and China will not have any impact on India’s export which is just below 2 percent of the global trade. Some optimism also spread among the investors with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the transfer of record Rs 1.76 lakh crore dividend and surplus reserves to the government, boosting Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led regime's prospect to stimulate the slowing economy without widening the fiscal deficit. Moreover, the rupee’s recovery by 29 paise to 71.73 against the dollar in early trade added to the momentum.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as investors found reason to be cautiously optimistic again about the potential for progress in the costly trade war between the U.S. and China. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37706.94, up by 212.82 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 37449.69 and 37722.13. There were 24 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.77%, while Small cap index was up by 1.42%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 2.17%, Power up by 2.14%, Capital Goods up by 2.03%, Utilities up by 2.00% and PSU was up by 1.98%, while Telecom down by 1.31%, TECK down by 1.29% and IT was down by 1.22% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 7.51%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 6.51%, Indusind Bank up by 3.28%, Tata Steel up by 3.09% and Power Grid was up by 2.86%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.37%, Infosys down by 2.20%, TCS down by 1.11%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.61% and Sun Pharma was down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a massive boost to government’s prospect to stimulate the slowing economy while keeping its fiscal deficit contained, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given its nod for transferring to the government a sum of Rs 1.76 lakh crore, comprising Rs 1.23 lakh crore of surplus for the year 2018-19 and Rs 52,637 crore of excess provisions identified as per the revised Economic Capital Framework (ECF). The excess reserve transfer is in line with the recommendation of former RBI governor Bimal Jalan-led panel constituted to decide size of capital reserves that the central bank should hold.

The receipts from the RBI will give a fillip to the government's efforts to boost the economy from a five-year low. Recently, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a slew of measures to prop up growth even as the government tried to stick to the target of keeping fiscal deficit at 3.3 percent of the GDP. The additional cash will now give the Centre more headroom for stimulating the economy.

As far as the dividend is concerned, as financial resilience was within the desired range, the entire net income of Rs 1.23 lakh crore for the year 2018-19, of which an amount of Rs 28,000 crore has already been paid as interim dividend, will be transferred to the government. The government will get a higher dividend Rs 95,414 crore during the current fiscal as against the estimate of Rs 90,000 crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11133.45, up by 75.60 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 11049.50 and 11138.10. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 7.46%, Britannia Industries up by 7.02%, GAIL India up by 3.72%, Eicher Motors up by 3.55% and Indusind Bank was up by 3.25%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.34%, Infosys down by 2.17%, TCS down by 1.16%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.57% and Tech Mahindra was down by 0.53% were the top losers.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 195.04 points or 0.96% to 20,456.08, Shanghai Composite gained 39.53 points or 1.38% to 2,903.10, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 32.66 points or 0.32% to 10,387.23, KOSPI rose 8.29 points or 0.43% to 1,924.60, Jakarta Composite soared 56.05 points or 0.9% to 6,270.56 and Straits Times was up by 10.60 points or 0.35% to 3,075.93.

On the flip side, Hang Seng was down by 45.56 points or 0.18% to 25,634.77.