Bourses remain positive; Sensex up by 177 points

Indian bourses remained positive in late afternoon session, despite weak cues from European markets. Optimism persisted on the street, 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. Traders paid no heed towards a private report stating that India's economic growth momentum is expected to slip further as there is no quick fix solution for the structural issues that the economy is facing.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, as Germany's economy contracted as initially estimated in the second quarter due to weak foreign demand and there are signs that the shrinking continued into the third quarter, pushing the biggest euro area economy to the verge of recession and strengthening calls for economic stimulus. Gross domestic product shrank slightly by 0.1 percent quarter-on-quarter in the three months to June, reversing the first quarter's 0.4 percent expansion. However, Asian markets were trading in green.

Back home, stocks related to the chemical industry were in watch, after the government said foreign direct investment (FDI) in India's chemical sector is meagre at only 9 percent of the total inflow in the country in spite of a conducive policy and asked the industry players to introspect the reasons for the same.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37671.18, up by 177.06 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 37449.69 and 37731.51. There were 23 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.73%, while Small cap index was up by 1.47%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.38%, PSU up by 2.15%, Capital Goods up by 2.03%, Auto up by 1.98% and Industrials up by 1.94%, while Telecom down by 2.19%, TECK down by 1.46% and IT down by 1.30% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 9.55%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 8.14%, Tata Steel up by 4.41%, Indusind Bank up by 3.21% and NTPC up by 2.41%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 3.38%, Infosys down by 1.91%, TCS down by 1.63%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.30% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.26% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) will introduce an e-inspection system which will simplify the inspection process and ensure organizations with open communications will not be subject to physical inspection until absolutely necessary. The development has been confirmed by Central Provident Fund Commissioner Sunil Barthwal.

Barthwal also said that EPFO proposed to amend the Act to limit inquiry period to a maximum of two years in order to curtail harassment. Further, he noted that small percentage of employees are unable to generate UAN (a 12-digit Universal Account Number to all employees entitled to EPF) due to a mismatch in data and added that the EPFO is looking at alternative authentication vis-a-vis the employee database, to address this issue.

Besides, Central Provident Fund Commissioner proposed to set up a society of self-regulating consultants, similar to ICAI (The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India), in order to curb misuse and corruption.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11116.90, up by 59.05 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 11049.50 and 11141.75. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 9.18%, Britannia up by 6.09%, Tata Steel up by 4.48%, GAIL India up by 3.48% and Eicher Motors up by 3.16%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 3.51%, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 2.31%, Infosys down by 1.89%, TCS down by 1.70% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.51% were the top losers.

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.

European markets were trading mostly in red; FTSE lost 31.22 points or 0.44% to 7,063.76 and CAC fell 6.47 points or 0.12% to 5,344.55, while DAX was up by 17.25 points or 0.15% to 11,675.29.