Markets trade firm in early deals; Nifty above 12,050 mark

Indian equity benchmarks made positive start and are trading firm with gains of around half a percent each in early deals on Wednesday. Barring Capital Goods, Realty and Industrials, all the sectoral indices were trading in green on BSE. Traders took some encouragement with Union minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that India's service sector can help achieve the Central government's target of $5 trillion GDP. He said the service sector has the potential to be the largest job creators in the country and over the next five years it has the potential to contribute $3 trillion out of the $5 trillion GDP target set by the government. Some support also come with report that net investment of equity and debt reported by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) stayed bullish with net buying logged at Rs 4,677.75 crore from Indian equities. Besides, private report indicated that the Reserve Bank of India is expected to cut interest rates in its December bi-monthly monetary policy and again before July.

Global cues also remained supportive with all the Asian markets trading in green as more upbeat signals from Sino-US trade talks fanned hopes of an imminent end to tariff hostilities, which helped offset concerns about a slowing US economy. US President Donald Trump said that the United States and China are close to agreement on the first phase of a trade deal after top negotiators from the two countries spoke by telephone and agreed to keep working on remaining issues. Back home, telecom stocks were in focus amid reports that the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) formed to suggest relief measure for struggling telecos has been disbanded. In scrip specific development, Yes Bank surged ahead of a board meeting to be held on November 29 to consider fund raising.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40995.33, up by 174.03 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 40924.49 and 41075.76. There were 25 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.37%, while Small cap index was up by 0.27%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.92%, IT up by 0.65%, TECK up by 0.61%, Metal up by 0.52% and Utilities was up by 0.48%, while Capital Goods down by 0.48%, Realty down by 0.47% and Industrials was down by 0.03% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 3.94%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.03%, Tata Motors up by 1.89%, HDFC up by 1.75% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.52%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 1.05%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.85%, Tata Steel down by 0.22%, SBI down by 0.22% and Sun Pharma Industries down by 0.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over growth of India’s economy, the minister of Railways, Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has said the country’s service sector can help achieve the Central government’s target of $5 trillion Gross Domestic Product (GDP). He said the service sector has the potential to be the largest job creators in the country and over the next five years it has the potential to contribute $3 trillion out of the $5 trillion GDP target set by the government.

He further said it is the manufacturing and services industry that will be the growth engines of the Indian economy. He highlighted that these two sectors need to work together, as without services, manufacturing cannot succeed and without manufacturing, services cannot grow.

The minister also said India needs to move beyond Business Process Outsourcing and work towards adopting new age technologies such as artificial intelligence, block chain, machine learning and engage with the rest of the world on equal terms.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12092.95, up by 55.25 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 12065.10 and 12108.50. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 4.75%, Tata Motors up by 2.51%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.90%, JSW Steel up by 1.82% and HDFC up by 1.74%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 1.85%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.06%, BPCL down by 0.82%, ICICI Bank down by 0.75% and Adani Ports & SEZ down by 0.38% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in green; Nikkei 225 surged 105.42 points or 0.45% to 23,478.74, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 49.83 points or 0.43% to 11,626.65, Hang Seng increased 12.38 points or 0.05% to 26,926.30, Jakarta Composite soared 11.41 points or 0.19% to 6,037.60, KOSPI rose 5.44 points or 0.26% to 2,126.79, Shanghai Composite gained 4.70 points or 0.16% to 2,911.76 and Straits Times was up by 0.09 points or 0% to 3,207.94.