Barometer gauges maintain gains in early noon deals

Stock markets were trading in fine fettle in the early noon session due to buying in Realty, Utilities and Oil & Gas sectors. Buying in frontline stocks such as NTPC, Bajaj Finance and ITC were aiding sentiment, while selling in Yes Bank, Hero MotoCorp and Power Grid Corporation kept the gains in the markets in check. Besides, broader indices were also trading in green, supporting their larger peers. Optimism came with Union Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari’s statement that the government would spend a whopping Rs 5 trillion over the next two years in infrastructure projects to spur the economy and create thousands of jobs. However, gains remain limited as Asian Development Bank (ADB) trimmed its forecast for India's economic growth in 2019-20 to 5.1 per cent saying consumption was affected by slow job growth and rural distress aggravated by poor harvest.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher ahead of the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision due later in the day. Back on street, in sectoral front, Gem and jewellery stocks remained in focus as the overall gems & jewellery exports fell 4.74 percent to Rs 18,136.2 crore in November year-on-year due to poor consumer sentiment in the key export markets.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40333.09, up by 93.21 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 40135.37 and 40423.14. There were 19 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.26%, while Small cap index was up by 0.07%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.85%, Utilities up by 0.65%, Oil & Gas up by 0.55%, IT up by 0.41% and Bankex was up by 0.38%, while Capital Goods down by 0.84%, Telecom down by 0.33%, Industrials down by 0.31%, Metal down by 0.27% and Basic Materials was down by 0.13% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 1.41%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.25%, ITC up by 1.15%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.12% and Asian Paints was up by 1.00%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 12.07%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.98%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.50%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.33% and Bharti Airtel was down by 0.60% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, global rating agency, Fitch Ratings in its latest report has said that India's non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) will go for offshore financing in 2020 as funding conditions within the local market will continue relatively tight for NBFCs overall, though some improvement since the failure of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) in late 2018. However, it expects offshore access to be restricted to larger entities with stronger credit fundamentals.

According to the report, India's weaker macroeconomic backdrop is likely to add to the existing funding, growth and asset-quality strains weighing on the Indian NBFCs industry as a whole. It said the offshore route will allow better-placed NBFCs to further diversify funding sources after fairly volatile domestic liquidity conditions over the past year, enabling them to capture relative funding-cost benefits and exploit growth opportunities.

The ratings agency further said that pressure for consolidation is highly likely against this background. It noted that coupled with tighter industry regulation, this should be positive for market stability in the longer run, and is likely to benefit companies with more resilient fundamentals or those with strong strategic linkages with financially sound corporates. It added that such institutions should retain better access to financing in the domestic market despite broader sector pressures.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11875.25, up by 18.45 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 11864.65 and 11907.30. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 2.66%, NTPC up by 1.50%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.31%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.30% and Bajaj Finserv was up by 1.30%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 13.35%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.14%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.59%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.43% and Hindalco was down by 1.31% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in mostly in green, Hang Seng increased 165.46 points or 0.63% to 26,602.08, Shanghai Composite gained 5.38 points or 0.18% to 2,922.70, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 72.93 points or 0.63% to 11,700.77, KOSPI rose 8.65 points or 0.41% to 2,106.65 and Straits Times was up by 13.81 points or 0.44% to 3,176.70.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 slipped 23.43 points or 0.1% to 23,386.76 and Jakarta Composite was down by 4.66 points or 0.08% to 6,178.85.