Indian markets maintain upward momentum in early noon deals

Indian equity markets maintained their upward momentum in the early noon session, following gains in Bankex, Auto and Metal stocks. Healthy buying was observed in blue-chip stocks like ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra. Sentiments got boost with report that easing the regulatory framework for foreign portfolio investors, SEBI has simplified KYC requirements for them and permitted them to carry out the off-market transfer of securities. Besides, the regulator has broad-based the classification for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and simplified their registration process. Further, sentiments also remained up-beat with Employees' State Insurance Corporation’s (ESIC) latest payroll data showing that around 14.24 lakh jobs were created in July, higher than 12.49 lakh in the previous month.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed after US President Donald Trump said that a trade deal with China will come sooner than expected. In addition, the US and Japan signed a limited trade deal, under which Japan will open new markets to about $7 billion in US agricultural products, boosted the market sentiments. Back on the home turf, shares of Hinduja Global Solutions soared on getting contract to support UK’s DBS. Besides, Power Mech Projects surged on bagging orders worth Rs 115 crore.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39022.08, up by 428.56 points or 1.11% after trading in a range of 38676.11 and 39158.07. There were 25 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.01%, while Small cap index was up by 0.48%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.51%, Auto up by 2.20%, Metal up by 2.10%, PSU up by 1.96%, Oil & Gas up by 1.67%, while IT down by 0.89% and TECK was down by 0.65% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 3.86%, Tata Motors up by 3.09%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.89%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.81% and Kotak Mahindra Bank was up by 2.79%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 1.75%, Infosys down by 1.27%, TCS down by 0.75%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.62% and Yes Bank was down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has said that the government is determined to take India back to a high trajectory growth rate of 8-9 percent and the real challenge before the country is to sustain that growth. His comments come at a time when the government has taken a number of measures to boost the economy that has slipped to 6-year low of 5% in April-June quarter of 2019-20.

Kant said ‘but if we have to do this for the next three decades, energy (sector) has to be at the centre of this economical growth,' adding that no country in the world has been able to grow for long periods of time without focusing on energy and managing it efficiently. He stated that India's current energy consumption per capita was only about one third of the world average, and if India aspires to be a developed nation its per capita energy consumption should increase many folds.

NITI Aayog CEO further said ‘though we are comparatively an energy efficient economy, the energy requirement per unit of GDP is much lower than the world average and we would be taking all measure to increase this efficiency further.’ He also said several measures have been taken by the government to revive the sagging economy. He added that the RBI has brought down repo rate to the tune of 110 basis points this year and the finance minister has undertaken four economic boosters.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11572.00, up by 131.80 points or 1.15% after trading in a range of 11466.35 and 11610.85. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 3.95%, Tata Motors up by 3.13%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.09%, Hindalco up by 3.00% and Indian Oil Corporation was up by 2.95%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 1.85%, Infosys down by 1.32%, TCS down by 0.78%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.64% and Yes Bank was down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite declined 11.11 points or 0.38% to 2,944.32, KOSPI fell 0.49 points or 0.02% to 2,072.90, Nikkei 225 slipped 8.38 points or 0.04% to 22,011.77 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 1.70 points or 0.02% to 10,871.99. On the flip side, Hang Seng increased 38.88 points or 0.15% to 25,984.23, Straits Times advanced 1.95 points or 0.06% to 3,127.77 and Jakarta Composite was up by 43.51 points or 0.71% to 6,189.91.