Bourses manage to keep their heads above water in afternoon deals

Indian equity benchmarks managed to keep their heads above water in afternoon session, on the back of buying by funds and retail investors. Traders were taking support from the report that India's current account deficit (CAD), a difference between foreign exchange inflows and outflows, narrowed to 0.9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), or $6.3 billion, in second quarter of current financial year (Q2FY20), on account of lower trade deficit. It had stood at 2.9 per cent of GDP, or $19 billion, in the corresponding quarter of 2018-19. However, gains remain capped as anxiety spread among the investors with American economist Steve Hanke’s statement that India will struggle to achieve 5 percent GDP growth in 2020 as the significant deceleration in past few quarters was largely owing to credit squeeze which is a cyclical problem. On the sectoral front, jewellery stocks like PC Jeweller and Titan Company dropped as rating agency ICRA expects jewellery demand to decline by 6-8 percent in terms of volume following high gold prices and weak consumer demand in 2019-20. However, infrastructure stocks gained after the government unveiled plans for major investments in the sector.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 41324.22, up by 70.48 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 41274.52 and 41443.52. There were 16 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.22%, while Small cap index was up by 0.48%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 0.90%, Utilities up by 0.65%, IT up by 0.48%, Industrials up by 0.40% and Healthcare was up by 0.38%, while Metal down by 0.53%, Auto down by 0.28%, Consumer Durables down by 0.24%, Bankex down by 0.13% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 1.60%, NTPC up by 0.92%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.75%, Sun Pharma up by 0.75% and Larsen & Toubro was up by 0.60%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.08%, Titan Co down by 0.69%, Tata Steel down by 0.68%, ONGC down by 0.66% and Axis Bank was down by 0.50% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to achieve the target of making India a $5 trillion economy by 2025, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has unveiled Rs 102 lakh crore of national infrastructure projects, including Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed rail, that will be implemented in the next five years. She also said another Rs 3 lakh crore of projects will be added to this pipeline that includes Jewar Airport and Jal Jeevan Mission. She noted that of the Rs 102 lakh crore projects, Rs 42.7 lakh crore (43 percent) projects are under implementation, Rs 32.7 lakh crore (about 33 percent) worth of projects are at conceptualisation stage and Rs 19.1 lakh crore (about 19 per cent) worth of projects are under development.

The minister has stated that the projects are spread across 22 ministries and 18 states and union territories. Besides, she said the government also intends to launch NIP, National Infrastructure Pipeline, a coordination mechanism consisting of the Centre, states and also the private sector for information dissemination together with monitoring the implementation of this entire framework. She added that these projects are on top of Rs 51 lakh crore spent by the Centre and the states during the last six years.

With regard to investment, Sitharaman said that the new pipeline consists of 39 percent projects each by the Centre and states and the balance by 22 percent by private sector which could increase to 30 percent by 2025. On the financing, she said the government will look at deepening of debt market and alternative investment funds which will provide bulk of the debt financing necessary for this.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12187.30, up by 18.85 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 12169.80 and 12222.20. There were 25 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.65%, Power Grid up by 1.55%, Bharti Infratel up by 1.13%, NTPC up by 0.97% and Wipro was up by 0.92%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 1.15%, Indusind Bank down by 1.03%, ONGC down by 0.74%, Titan Company down by 0.74% and Hindalco was down by 0.69% were the top losers.

All the major Asian markets are closed today on Account of New Year holiday.