Bourses continue to trade higher on easing WPI inflation

Key benchmark indices continued to trade higher in afternoon session, on the back of easing inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI). Wholesale prices based inflation eased to 0.33 per cent in September, as against 1.08 per cent in August due to fall in prices of non-food articles. The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, was at 5.22 per cent in September 2018. Traders were getting encouragement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that Rs 25 lakh crore will be spent for infrastructural development in the villages across the country, in a big boost to strengthen rural infrastructure. Sentiment also got a boost after Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) report showed that India’s foreign exchange reserves increased by $4.239 billion to hit a record high of $437.833 billion as on October 4. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured investors that India will honour contractual commitments under various energy agreements.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading higher on account of the increased investments in the market amid optimistic reports that the US and China have reached a partial trade deal that includes up to $40 billion to $50 billion in Chinese purchases of US agricultural products as well as Chinese concessions on intellectual property and financial services. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38332.55, up by 205.47 points or 0.54% after trading in a range of 38066.13 and 38383.64. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.86%, while Small cap index was up by 0.45%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.09%, Metal up by 1.97%, Oil & Gas up by 1.38%, Basic Materials up by 1.37% and PSU was up by 1.29%, while IT down by 0.74%, TECK down by 0.49% and Consumer Durables was down by 0.05% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors - DVR up by 6.22%, Tata Motors up by 5.85%, ONGC up by 4.34%, Tata Steel up by 3.06% and Vedanta was up by 3.03%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 3.45%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.22%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.55%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.10% and Kotak Mahindra Bank was down by 0.07% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, bank credit at scheduled commercial banks rose at slower rate of 8.79 per cent on year-on-year basis. According to the fortnightly data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), credit stood at Rs 97.71 lakh crore in the fortnight to September 27, 2019 as compared with Rs 89.82 lakh crore reported in the year-ago fortnight. Further, aggregate deposits at the scheduled commercial banks stood at Rs 129.06 lakh crore as on September 27, 2019.

As per the Reserve Bank’s data report, non-food credit, accounting for 99.39% of the share of the total credit, recorded a growth of 8.70%, YoY, at Rs 97.11 lakh crore as on September 27, 2019 as against a rise of 10.27% fortnight ago and 12.56% rise a year ago.

Earlier, bank credit at scheduled commercial banks had gone up by 10.26 per cent on year-on-year basis to Rs 97.01 lakh crore in the previous fortnight ending September 13, 2019 as compared with Rs 87.98 lakh crore reported in the fortnight ended September 14, 2018.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11369.00, up by 63.95 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 11290.05 and 11382.50. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 5.94%, ONGC up by 4.57%, Tata Steel up by 3.17%, Vedanta up by 2.96% and Yes Bank was up by 2.78%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 3.39%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.10%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.57%, UPL down by 0.44% and Bajaj Finserv was down by 0.31% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; KOSPI rose 22.79 points or 1.11% to 2,067.40, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 176.99 points or 1.63% to 11,066.95, Straits Times advanced 12.53 points or 0.4% to 3,126.50, Jakarta Composite soared 19.22 points or 0.31% to 6,125.02, Hang Seng increased 222.09 points or 0.84% to 26,530.53 and Shanghai Composite was up by 30.58 points or 1.03% to 3,004.24.