Sensex, Nifty hold gaining momentum

Indian equity bourses continued to trade with traction in early noon session, on account of sustained buying in IT, Healthcare and Realty stocks. The indices were trading with gains of around a percent. Traders took encouragement with Economist Intelligence Unit’s report stating that India and China are projected to see accelerated economic growth in the fourth quarter of this year, bucking trends in the US and the European Union. It added that the real GDP growth of India in the December-ending quarter is expected to be the highest among G7 and BRICS nations. In the third quarter, India's real GDP growth is estimated to be 1% on a quarter-on-quarter basis and is projected to rise to 2.20% in the fourth quarter. Adding some optimism, the Indian rupee holding on its morning gains and trading higher, with buying in domestic equity market helped the Sensex to touch the record high. Some strength also came with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that India would enter into any free-trade agreement (FTA) or comprehensive partnership agreement on its terms and would do what would be best for the people and national interest.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates as expected to keep the economic expansion on track. Back home, sugar stocks remained in focus with report that the government's Rs 15,000-crore soft loan programme for sugar mills to set up ethanol units is moving at a very slow pace as banks have so far disbursed only about Rs 800 crore. Infrastructure stocks remained buzzing with the Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways V K Singh has said that the government is working on ways to address various issues, including financing, for basket of highway projects worth Rs 15 lakh crore. He noted that infrastructure and highways is the most profitable sector and can propel the growth of economy.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40299.09, up by 247.22 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 40178.25 and 40344.99. There were 18 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index, while 2 stocks remains unchanged on the index on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.93%, while Small cap index was up by 1.03%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.01%, TECK up by 1.79%, Realty up by 1.42%, PSU up by 1.31% and Healthcare was up by 1.04%, while Telecom down by 0.73% and Energy was down by 0.12% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 4.24%, Infosys up by 4.21%, Tata Motors up by 3.00%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.38% and Sun Pharma up by 1.87%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.09%, Tata Steel down by 0.94%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.66%, Axis Bank down by 0.60% and Reliance Industries down by 0.31% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said the resolution of stressed thermal assets remained quiet despite various measures undertaken by the government and lenders. It said only about 10 percent of the 40 GW stressed coal-based capacity achieving resolution, mainly through acquisition by a new sponsor. It noted that the balance capacity is under various stages of resolution, including through Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

According to the report, the resolution of 12 GW gas-based capacity continues to remain uncertain, given the inadequate availability of domestic gas and absence of any policy measures for use of imported R-LNG with subsidy support as well as the measures to incentivise such projects to meet the peaking/ancillary power demand. It also said the improvement in the discoms' financial position on all India level remained lower than expected, which can hamper the sustainability of demand growth and signing of new long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs).

About the power sector, ICRA said that the all India electricity demand growth slowed down to 4.4 percent in the first six month of FY20, from 6 percent growth witnessed in the corresponding period of previous year. It noted that the slowdown in electricity demand was primarily witnessed in the months of August 2019 and September 2019, despite a healthy growth of 7.4 per cent in Q1 FY20. It added that the slowdown can be attributed to lower demand from household and agriculture segments following heavy rains in August 2019 and September 2019 and moderation in demand from industrial segment.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11914.35, up by 70.25 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 11883.05 and 11927.85. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 6.21%, SBI up by 4.29%, Infosys up by 4.21%, GAIL India up by 3.03% and Tata Motors up by 2.91%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 2.18%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.05%, Tata Steel down by 1.03%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.64% and Axis Bank down by 0.58% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading mixed; Hang Seng increased 254.95 points or 0.96% to 26,922.66,Nikkei 225 surged 95.56 points or 0.42% to 22,938.68,Straits Times advanced 24.40 points or 0.76% to 3,232.32and KOSPI rose 12.79 points or 0.61% to 2,093.06. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 5.30 points or 0.18% to 2,934.02, Taiwan Weighted dropped 21.57 points or 0.19% to 11,358.71 and Jakarta Composite was down by 37.54 points or 0.6% to 6,258.21.