Local bourses hold gains in afternoon deals

The local barometer gauges held their gains of over half a percent each in afternoon session, on the back of positive corporate earnings and the government’s plan to scrap Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT). Sentiments also remained positive with report that the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has kickstarted an exercise to relax India’s foreign direct investment (FDI) norms. The department held an inter-ministerial meeting to discuss further opening up in sectors, especially where 100% FDI is not allowed on the automatic route. However, weak trend in Asian markets coupled with depreciation in rupee value against the dollar restricted further gains. On the sectoral front, shares of telecom companies including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea jumped as the government decided to form a special panel to alleviate issues faced by major players in the telecom industry. Whereas, stocks related to mining and construction equipment sector were trading lower with the rating agency ICRA stating that domestic demand for the mining and construction equipment sector fell sharply by 16-17 percent in the January-August period of calendar year 2019 (CY19), on the back of tight liquidity conditions in the market, delayed payment to contractors along with reduction in the government expenditure in infrastructure projects.

On the global front, Asian market were trading mostly in red, as traders play a wait-and-see game ahead of the Federal Reserve's latest policy decision, with expectations for another interest rate cut but focus also on its plans for the future. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40087.81, up by 255.97 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 39805.11 and 40100.48. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.61%, while Small cap index was up by 0.59%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.70%, TECK up by 1.69%, IT up by 1.59%, PSU up by 1.56% and Capital Goods up by 1.21%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.65%, Metal down by 0.29%, Auto down by 0.26%, Realty down by 0.13% and Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 3.21%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.07%, ITC up by 2.88%, Infosys up by 2.81% and TCS up by 1.59%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.19%, Tata Steel down by 1.18%, ICICI Bank down by 1.11%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.05% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.89% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to harmonized growth and development of decentralized power loom sector of the country, the Textiles Ministry has invited proposals from evaluating agencies, to study and assess the performance of schemes available in the sector.

The Office of Textile Commissioner floated an expression of interest-cum-request for proposal to select an evaluating agency to assess the three schemes -- PowerTex India, Converged Group Insurance, and Revised Comprehensive Powerloom Cluster Development Scheme -- that are in place till March 2020.

The selected agency will assess the impact of the schemes with respect to the achievement of objectives and outcomes. The evaluation will be also done on the factors like the contribution of the schemes to the growth of power loom sector either directly or by way of creating a leverage of growth in terms of increase in production, improvement in quality and cost of production, reduction in wastage, market improvement, employment generation, and social security, among others.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11855.95, up by 69.10 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 11784.45 and 11883.95. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 3.19%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.95%, ITC up by 2.94%, Infosys up by 2.76% and Bharti Infratel up by 2.28%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 1.53%, Britannia Industries down by 1.45%, UPL down by 1.33%, Coal India down by 1.33% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.30% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 141.56 points or 0.53% to 26,645.20, Nikkei 225 slipped 131.01 points or 0.57% to 22,843.12, Shanghai Composite declined 17.26 points or 0.58% to 2,936.92 and KOSPI fell 12.42 points or 0.59% to 2,080.27.

On the flip side, Straits Times advanced 9.45 points or 0.3% to 3,206.49, Jakarta Composite soared 14.13 points or 0.22% to 6,295.27 and Taiwan Weighted strengthened 46.41 points or 0.41% to 11,380.28.