Local equities turn flat; Sensex above 39,000 mark

Indian benchmarks traded mixed in late morning session, with Sensex gaining 17 points, while Nifty was down by 9 points. Traders were seen in selling position for Telecom, Oil & Gas, PSU and Energy stocks, while buying was witnessed in FMCG, Capital Goods, Industrials and Consumer Durables stocks. However, broader indices - BSE Mid cap and Small cap - are trading with marginal gains. Some support came in as India has jumped 14 places to the 63rd position in the World Bank's ‘ease of doing business’ report on the government’s flagship ‘Make in India’ scheme and other reforms attracting foreign investment. Though, there was some cautiousness with report that the share of foreign portfolio investments (FPI) in domestic capital markets through participatory notes (P-notes) stood at Rs 76,611 crore in September-end, registering the fourth consecutive month-on-month decline.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, in line with the positive trend from wall street overnight after the release of upbeat corporate earnings results. Back on home turf, oil marketing companies (OMCs) stocks were under pressure after Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) opened up fuel retailing norms and allowed non-oil companies to set up petrol pumps to increase competition. Besides, Larsen & Toubro advanced on reporting 7% rise in Q2 consolidated net profit.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39076.58, up by 17.75 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 39011.29 and 39327.15. There were 14 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.20%, while Small cap index was up by 0.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.48%, Capital Goods up by 0.45%, Industrials up by 0.40%, Consumer Durables up by 0.37% and Healthcare was up by 0.35%, while Telecom down by 3.84%, Oil & Gas down by 0.98%, PSU down by 0.90%, Energy down by 0.43% and Power was down by 0.38% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 2.66%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.06%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.05%, ITC up by 1.00% and Tata Motors was up by 0.64%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 3.58%, SBI down by 0.93%, ONGC down by 0.88%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.86% and Hero MotoCorp was down by 0.75% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister Bibek Debroy has said India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is hovering around 5 percent is expected to inch up to 7 percent in the next financial year (FY21). Debroy said ‘I see India breaking out of 6 percent GDP and inching upwards gradually, but not overnight, to 7 percent or thereabouts.’

Debroy further said he expects GDP numbers at the end of the current fiscal year (FY20) to be around 6 percent. He also said one should not get swayed by the quarter-on-quarter GDP numbers and dismissed the clamour around 5 percent growth registered in the first quarter of FY20.

He pointed out that second-quarter growth will not be better than the first quarter. Besides, he mentioned that India needs to focus on decentralization not only from the Union government to state government but within states. He feels decentralization will drive growth at the level of the districts adding growth upwards to the states.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11594.60, down by 9.50 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 11589.85 and 11679.60. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 2.73%, Eicher Motors up by 2.49%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.99%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.98% and ITC was up by 0.92%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 5.88%, BPCL down by 3.60%, Bharti Airtel down by 3.09%, Grasim Industries down by 2.04% and Wipro was down by 1.51% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 107.76 points or 0.41% to 26,674.49, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 38.61 points or 0.34% to 11,278.28, Straits Times advanced 25.89 points or 0.82% to 3,170.17, KOSPI rose 0.17 points or 0.01% to 2,080.79, Jakarta Composite soared 49.73 points or 0.79% to 6,307.54 and Nikkei 225 was up by 136.35 points or 0.6% to 22,761.73. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 6.37 points or 0.22% to 2,935.25.