Indian equities remain in green terrain

Indian equity benchmarks continued their trade in green territory in afternoon session, on buying by funds and retail investors, tracking positive Asian markets. Sentiments remained positive with Former Union minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that startups are going to play a vital role in making India a $5 trillion economy. He also said ‘so, when we talk about $5 trillion economy, it will be largely from the startups. It is inevitably bound to happen all over the world, thankfully our prime minister realised it and had that vision to understand the changing economic scenario of the Indian economy.’ However, gains remain capped with report that as many as 373 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or more, are hit by cost overruns of more than Rs 3.89 lakh crore owing to delays and other reasons. On the sectoral front, shipping sector remained in focus with the Indian Ports Association (IPA) showing that cargo volume handled by the country's top 12 ports was marginally up by 0.34 percent at 463.07 million tonnes during the April-November period this year.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, catching some of Wall Street's momentum after surprisingly strong U.S. jobs data, although regional gains were capped by concerns about China's economic slowdown due to the prolonged Sino-U.S. trade war. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40547.89, up by 102.74 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 40336.56 and 40582.68. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.64%, while Small cap index was up by 0.08%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.35%, Auto up by 1.30%, Energy up by 0.79%, Basic Materials up by 0.77% and Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services was up by 0.76%, while FMCG down by 0.57%, IT down by 0.43%, Realty down by 0.25%, TECK down by 0.24%, Capital Goods was down by 0.17% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 2.14%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.01%, Tata Steel up by 1.81%, Tata Motors up by 1.73% and Vedanta was up by 1.44%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.75%, HCL Technologies down by 1.39%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.21%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.66% and ITC was down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, IHS Markit in its latest report has said that India's real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is likely to slip below 5 percent in the current financial year (FY20) as the impact of stimulus measures will take time to filter through to the economy. It noted that financial sector fragilities continue to weigh on the country’s economic growth momentum, with the high level of non-performing loans on the balance sheets of the public sector banks (PSBs), constraining their new lending.

According to the report, there are also risks from potential contagion effects from troubled non-bank financial companies (NBFCs) to the balance sheets of some commercial banks, which could further weigh on the overall pace of credit expansion. It also said that confronted with the sharp slowdown in economic growth momentum, the government will face increasing pressure to roll out additional fiscal measures to bolster manufacturing output and kick-start an upturn in the investment cycle. It noted that such measures could include accelerated government spending on infrastructure projects such as roads, railways, and ports, as well as urban infrastructure such as affordable housing and hospitals.

Furthermore, the report stated that given that the process of strengthening bank balance sheets has been slow, taking a number of years already, India's financial sector problems are likely to remain a drag on the pace of economic growth over the medium-term outlook. Also, it said any turnaround in the investment cycle could also be relatively protracted, depending on the ability of the government to accelerate its own infrastructure spending program. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11955.35, up by 33.85 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 11888.05 and 11967.50. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 2.38%, Yes Bank up by 2.32%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 2.20%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.89% and Tata Steel was up by 1.79%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.76%, Cipla down by 1.65%, HCL Technologies down by 1.46%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.23% and GAIL India was down by 1.02% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 76.30 points or 0.33% to 23,430.70, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 51.13 points or 0.44% to 11,660.77, Hang Seng increased 18.77 points or 0.07% to 26,517.14, KOSPI rose 6.80 points or 0.33% to 2,088.65, Jakarta Composite soared 5.37 points or 0.09% to 6,192.24 and Shanghai Composite was up by 0.80 points or 0.03% to 2,912.81.

On the flip side, Straits Times was down by 2.38 points or 0.07% to 3,192.33.