Sensex, Nifty continue to trade in positive terrain

Markets pared some initial gains but continued to trade in green in early noon session amid buying in blue chip stocks from across various sectors. Buying in Telecom, Consumer Durables and Energy stocks helped markets to trade higher. Besides, broader indices were also trading in green, supporting their larger peers. Sentiments remained up as the government has approved the establishment of a ‘Special Window’ to provide priority debt financing for completion of stalled housing projects in the Affordable and Middle-Income Housing sector. The government has approved setting up of an Rs 25,000 crore bailout fund to finance 1,600 stalled housing projects as it looks to boost the economy by kick starting incomplete projects.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower in tandem with lackluster cues from Wall Street overnight as the signing of an interim trade deal between the US and China could be delayed until December, dulling the market sentiments. Back home, in scrip specific development, share of IndiGo rised as the company has signed a one-way codeshare agreement with Qatar Airways, world’s best airline as per 2019 World Airline Awards.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40526.09, up by 56.31 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 40476.12 and 40676.44. There were 12 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged 0.40%, while Small cap index was up by 0.43%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.00%, Consumer Durables up by 0.97%, Energy up by 0.64%, Realty up by 0.59% and FMCG was up by 0.21%, while Metal down by 1.08%, Auto down by 0.64%, Capital Goods down by 0.55%, Utilities down by 0.53% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.38% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 2.02%, Reliance Industries up by 1.12%, HDFC up by 1.05%, ITC up by 1.05% and Bajaj Finance was up by 0.82%. On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 3.73%, Tata Steel down by 3.55%, Tata Motors down by 3.36%, ONGC down by 1.73% and Yes Bank was down by 1.45% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to protect the interests of farmers and boost agriculture exports, Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar has called for a review of regulations under the Essential Commodities Act (ECA). The Act seeks to regulate the production, supply and distribution of commodities that the government declares 'essential' in order to ensure its availability to people at fair price. The list of such essential commodities include drugs, fertilisers, pulses and edible oils, and petroleum and petroleum products.

Kumar said that organic or natural farming is the sunrise sector of Indian agriculture and exports from this sector have risen significantly and have great potential for growth. He also urged the agricultural scientists to evaluate organic or natural farming on merit. He said ‘Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) will meet our food security requirements and lead to a healthier and wealthier India.’ Besides, he stressed that soil degradation was taking place rapidly, and organic or natural farming was the only way to reverse this. He noted that it is essential to increase the share of ZBNF in Indian agriculture and urged all farmers to examine how they can move away from the use of chemicals in agriculture and adopt zero budget natural farming practices.

Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman further said ‘today, India is foodgrain surplus. If we improve our post production value chain, our foodgrain surplus shall be efficiently utilized. We have to improve on labour productivity and yield in all crops, and focus on capacity building of farmers. Our costs must be globally competitive. We need a second green revolution to increase farmer income and double exports.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11977.45, up by 11.40 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 11960.75 and 12021.40. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 2.74%, Indusind Bank up by 1.92%, Titan Company up by 1.72%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.38% and HDFC was up by 0.96%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.33%, Tata Motors down by 3.21%, GAIL India down by 2.12%, ONGC down by 1.52% and Yes Bank was down by 1.46% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly lower, Hang Seng decreased 105.32 points or 0.38% to 27,583.32, KOSPI fell 1.08 points or 0.05% to 2,143.07, Nikkei 225 slipped 3.71 points or 0.02% to 23,300.11, Taiwan Weighted dropped 38.76 points or 0.33% to 11,614.31, Shanghai Composite declined 7.65 points or 0.26% to 2,970.95 and Jakarta Composite was down by 82.23 points or 1.32% to 6,135.32. On the flip side, Straits Times was up by 2.38 points or 0.07% to 3,265.07.