Markets remain higher with notable gains

Indian equity markets remained higher with notable gains in late afternoon session, tracking firm European markets. Traders were optimistic with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that India is taking several steps to create an enabling ecosystem for investors. Some optimism also came after Cabinet cleared the structure of the proposed exclusive alternate investment fund (AIF) for the real estate sector with an initial corpus of Rs 25,000 crore, more inclusive terms and a commitment to continue to provide more budget funds, in addition to the initial Rs 10,000 crore, as and when demand arises.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, even though Germany's industrial production declined more than expected in September. The data from Destatis revealed that industrial production fell 0.6 percent month-on-month in September, reversing a 0.4 percent rise in August. However, Asian markets were trading in red.

Back home, airline industry stocks were in focus, after the International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for global air freight markets showing that demand measured in freight tonne kilometres decreased by 4.5 per cent in September 2019 compared to the same period in 2018.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40581.68, up by 111.90 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 40421.07 and 40676.44. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.64%, while Small cap index was up by 0.52%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.95%, Realty up by 0.80%, Consumer Durables up by 0.69%, Basic Materials up by 0.69% and Energy up by 0.44%, while PSU down by 0.66%, Oil & Gas down by 0.65%, Auto down by 0.62%, Utilities down by 0.53% and Capital Goods down by 0.45% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 3.14%, HDFC up by 1.71%, Vedanta up by 1.45%, ITC up by 1.44% and Asian Paints up by 1.40%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 3.05%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.18%, Tata Motors down by 2.15%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.89% and Axis Bank down by 1.66% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid factors like slower awarding of projects and delayed receipt of 'appointed date' from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), credit rating agency CRISIL in its latest report has said that revenue growth of road developers in the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) segment is likely to halve in the ongoing fiscal and the next fiscal.

As per the report, revenue growth may halve in fiscals 2020 and 2021 to 15 per cent, compared with 30 per cent in fiscal 2019. It noted that the NHAI awarded a whopping 7,400 km in fiscal 2018, which slowed down the following year to about 2,200 km, further adding that awarding is expected to be 4,000 km a year during the current fiscal and the next fiscal.

Besides, CRISIL said that the delay in declaring appointed dates for the projects awarded is primarily due to issues in land acquisition. However, the rating agency underlined that the slowdown is unlikely to impact the credit profiles of the EPC players.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11997.20, up by 31.15 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 11946.85 and 12021.40. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 3.19%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.89%, JSW Steel up by 2.32%, Vedanta up by 1.80% and HDFC up by 1.75%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 2.91%, GAIL India down by 2.45%, Tata Motors down by 2.32%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.95% and BPCL down by 1.70% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly lower; Hang Seng decreased 105.36 points or 0.38% to 27,583.28, Jakarta Composite lost 83.61 points or 1.34% to 6,133.94, Taiwan Weighted dropped 46.51 points or 0.4% to 11,606.56 and Shanghai Composite was down by 3.08 points or 0.1% to 2,975.52. On the flip side, KOSPI rose 0.14 points or 0.01% to 2,144.29, Straits Times advanced 4.55 points or 0.14% to 3,267.24 and Nikkei 225 wsa up by 26.50 points or 0.11% to 23,330.32.

All European markets were trading in green; DAX gained 99.14 points or 0.75% to 13,279.03, CAC rose 21.94 points or 0.37% to 5,888.68 and FTSE was up by 29.21 points or 0.39% to 7,425.86.