Benchmarks extend gains in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks extended their gains and in early noon session. Sentiments got boost on report that union minister of state for heavy industries and public enterprises, Arjun Ram Meghwal’s statement that the government will do everything to ensure that the economy remains on track and is not weakened so that the country reaches its target of $5 trillion economy. He also said during the tenure of the UPA government the country's economy was ranked 11th in the world and now under the BJP-led NDA government it has climbed to the fifth position. Traders took encouragement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that India is committed to becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2024. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the farmers’ pension scheme Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan-Dhan Yojana (PM-KMY) from Ranchi on September 12 with a subscriber base of more than one million.

On the global front, All Asian markets were trading in green, as investors cheered plans for more trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing. Back home, on the sectoral front, sugar stocks remained in focus with the report that sugar exports, estimated at 3.8 MT for sugar season (SS 2019), are expected to rise to 4.5-5 MT in SS 2020.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36840.73, up by 196.31 points or 0.54% after trading in a range of 36727.66 and 36867.49. There were 22 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.35%, while Small cap index was up by 0.43%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.36%, Bankex up by 1.22%, Utilities up by 1.06%, PSU up by 0.89% and Capital Goods was up by 0.80%, while Realty down by 0.85%, FMCG down by 0.19% and Healthcare was down by 0.09% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 4.34%, Axis Bank up by 2.92%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.00%, NTPC up by 1.91% and Power Grid by 1.58%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.69%, TCS down by 0.76%, Yes Bank down by 0.73%, HDFC down by 0.62% and HCL Tech. down by 0.39% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, power Secretary S.C. Garg has said that there is need to increase private sector investment to create a more robust integrated cross-border power trading market. He also said that India has various sources of power generation range from conventional sources such as coal, lignite, natural gas, oil, hydro and nuclear power to viable non-conventional sources such as wind, solar, and agricultural and domestic waste, which need to be exploited

Garg has stated that the country has the scope of exporting 75,000 MW of hydro-generated power to resource-deficient neighbouring countries. He also said there is interdependence among the countries in South Asia and it makes commercial sense to cooperate in areas such as jointly exploring resources (particularly Sri Lanka and Myanmar), integrated transmission network and free participation of entities or producers from other countries such as Bhutan and Bangladesh.

He also urged the private sector to invest and jointly cooperate in the 2.5 lakh megawatt potential that exists in the South Asian region and to make dream of 'One World, One Sun One Grid' a reality.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10901.30, up by 53.40 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 10867.45 and 10906.80. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 4.00%, Axis Bank up by 2.84%, NTPC up by 1.98%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.91% and Grasim Industries up by 1.90%. On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing down by 5.66%, Sun Pharma down by 2.45%, Wipro down by 1.10%, UPL down by 0.99% and Yes Bank down by 0.97% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in green; Hang Seng increased 84.08 points or 0.32% to 26,599.61, Nikkei 225 surged 77.16 points or 0.37% to 21,163.10, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 23.71 points or 0.22% to 10,780.64, Jakarta Composite soared 13.63 points or 0.22% to 6,320.43, Straits Times advanced 4.96 points or 0.16% to 3,152.02, KOSPI rose 4.50 points or 0.22% to 2,009.25and Shanghai Composite was up by 1.96 points or 0.07% to 2,987.82.