Firm trade continues on D-Street

Indian equity markets maintained their upward momentum in the morning session, following gains in Metal, Bankex and Auto stocks amid positive global sentiments. Broader indices too participated in the rally with both mid and small cap indices trading up by around half a percent each. Traders took support with the report that the Reserve Bank said the special lending window with CRR exemption will be open from February 14 and incremental loans disbursed under this facility will have CRR exemption for the next five years. This means that banks will not be needed to make additional cash reserve ratio against any incremental loans disbursed to the targeted segments. Sector wise, Power stocks remained in focus with report that the Rajasthan Energy Minister B D Kalla said the power tariff hike of 11.21 per cent will not affect more than half of the consumers even as the opposition blamed the state government for burdening people with its losses. Agriculture stocks were trading in green with agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s statement that India is on track to become self-sufficient in production of the protein-rich commodity and will further boost the output to meet global demand.

Global cues too remained supportive with all of the Asian markets are trading in green as China’s factories struggled to re-open after an extended break, though analysts warned investors might be underestimating how economically damaging the challenge was likely to be. Back home, in scrip specific movement shares, Cipla raised as its arm inks pact for anti-psychotic drug and Avantel zoomed on bagging order worth Rs 9.67 crore.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 41364.20, up by 384.58 points or 0.94% after trading in a range of 41179.14 and 41444.34. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.56%, while Small cap index was up by 0.44%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.38%, Auto up by 1.28%, Bankex up by 1.22%, Utilities up by 1.13% and Basic Materials was up by 1.08%, while IT down by 0.10% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.25%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.09%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.07%, ICICI Bank up by 1.89% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.80%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma Industries down by 0.42%, TCS down by 0.29% and Infosys down by 0.19% were the few losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that bad loans of public sector banks (PSBs) came down to Rs 7.27 lakh crore at the end of September 2019 from Rs 8.96 lakh crore at the end of March 2018. Sitharaman said that 12 out of 18 PSBs reporting profit in the first half of the current financial year (H1FY20), and the highest provision coverage ratio in seven-and-half years. This was attributed to slew of measures taken by the government to improve financial health of the banks in the country.

Sitharaman mentioned that the government has instituted comprehensive reforms in PSBs to improve, governance, underwriting, monitoring and recovery, and has leveraged technology in all aspects of banking, resulting in reduction in their non performing assets (NPAs). As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, gross NPAs of PSBs rose from Rs 2,79,016 crore as on March 31, 2015, to Rs 6,84,732 crore as on March 31, 2017 and Rs 8,95,601 crore as on March 31, 2018.

Besides, she said the Banking Trend Report published by the RBI in December observed that the health of the banking sector hinges on a turnaround in macroeconomic conditions. The government has taken significant steps towards speeding up the insolvency resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and easing of credit, particularly for the stressed real estate and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) sectors, and that the impact of critical measures taken to boost investment present green shoots for growth in the second half of 2019-20 and 2020-21.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12147.75, up by 116.25 points or 0.97% after trading in a range of 12103.10 and 12172.30. There were 43 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining, while 2 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 4.31%, Tata Motors up by 3.08%, JSW Steel up by 2.97%, Tata Steel up by 2.29% and Hero MotoCorp up by 2.07%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma Industries down by 0.48%, Coal India down by 0.45%, TCS down by 0.28%, Britannia Industries down by 0.26% and Infosys down by 0.22% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green, Hang Seng increased 324.10 points or 1.19% to 27,565.44, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 89.71 points or 0.78% to 11,663.78, Straits Times advanced 23.48 points or 0.74% to 3,186.63, KOSPI rose 18.79 points or 0.85% to 2,219.86, Shanghai Composite gained 9.65 points or 0.33% to 2,900.14 and Jakarta Composite was up by 3.61 points or 0.06% to 5,955.69.