Positive trade continues over Dalal Street

A positive trade continued over the Dalal Street in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty holding notable gains, aided by positive cues from other Asian markets along with heavy buying at Healthcare and Basic Materials counters. Sentiments remained upbeat, as Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal assured exporters that the government is working overtime to protect India’s interests in the proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) being negotiated with the United States but said that the country cannot be protectionist at a time when the world is moving towards reciprocity.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as China's industrial production and retail sales expanded more than expected in the January to February period driven by fiscal stimulus but the property market remained a drag on the economy. Industrial production registered an annual growth of 5.9 percent but slower than the 6.2 percent rise in December. Nonetheless, the pace of growth exceeded forecast of 5.3 percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 74166.72, up by 337.81 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 73796.06 and 74376.35. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.78%, while Small cap index was up by 0.53%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.25%, Basic Materials up by 0.92%, Consumer Durables up by 0.85%, Metal up by 0.82% and Bankex up by 0.82%, while FMCG down by 0.31%, IT down by 0.20%, Oil & Gas down by 0.14%, Telecom down by 0.03% and Energy down by 0.03% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 3.30%, Indusind Bank up by 2.95%, Axis Bank up by 1.79%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.75% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.72%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.08%, Nestle down by 1.02%, TCS down by 0.79%, ITC down by 0.75% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.69% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) has said that India should seek reciprocal concessions from the European Union (EU) under the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) in the medical devices sector to promote its exports. India charges zero to 10 per cent tariffs on most medical devices and a duty cut by India on medical devices without addressing EUs regulatory challenges will result in low exports but large scale imports from EU. 

To achieve a fair trade deal, GTRI said India must demand reciprocity. India should cut tariff on medical devices only if the EU reduces its non-tariff barriers. It said the ongoing India-EU FTA negotiations on medical devices are asymmetrical. While the EU demands zero tariffs on medical devices from India, it maintains high regulatory barriers that hinder Indian exports difficult in the EU markets. 

GTRI Founder Ajay Srivastava said the EU customs duty rates are zero, but market entry costs are substantial because of the stringent regulatory framework. Exporting to EU has become more difficult as it replaced the Medical Device Directives (EU-MDD) with the more stringent Medical Device Rules (EU-MDR). Citing an example, he said the new certification and regulatory expenses amount to 60,000-300,000 euro annually for market access of 100,000-3.75 million euro. 

He further said certification approval time increased from the earlier 4-8 months to 2-3 years now. Shortage of notified bodies and auditors in the EU is leading to high certification costs. He said on account of this, Indian exporters are withdrawing from the EU market or limiting product offerings as high entry and certification costs make market participation financially unsustainable. Moreover, he said the lack of Indian participation in the Medical Device Single Audit Program (MDSAP) limits the acceptance of Indian devices in key regulated markets. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22494.95, up by 97.75 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 22353.15 and 22577.00. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI Life Insurance up by 3.51%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.99%, Indusind Bank up by 2.96%, Trent up by 2.77% and Bajaj Finserv up by 2.74%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.94%, Britannia down by 1.54%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.28%, Wipro down by 1.21% and Nestle down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 268.79 points or 1.11% to 24,228.77, Shanghai Composite strengthened 7.13 points or 0.21% to 3,426.69, Straits Times rose 19.78 points or 0.51% to 3,855.80, KOSPI increased 37.97 points or 1.46% to 2,604.33, Nikkei 225 surged 424.47 points or 1.13% to 37,477.57 and Taiwan Weighted added 150.58 points or 0.68% to 22,118.63, while Jakarta Composite plunged 64.81 points or 1% to 6,450.82.