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Firm trade continues; Telecom stocks ring loud
Feb-19-2019

Firm trade continued on Dalal Street in late morning deals, with both larger peers, Sensex and Nifty, holding gains of around 0.40%, each. Trading sentiments got boost, with Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu’s statement that exports have been growing for the last three years. He said the Ministry of Commerce and industry has made a plan to improve the ease of doing business at district level.  He also added that if GDP of districts grow by 3% it will lead to overall growth of national GDP. Adding optimism on the street, the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind said that in trade and technology, agriculture and Antarctic science, cyberspace and satellites, India’s transformative growth and Argentine capabilities are creating new bilateral opportunities.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, amid renewed geopolitical tensions, with China accusing the US of fueling cybersecurity fears. Investors also awaited developments on the US-China trade front. The White House said that trade talks between the two economic powerhouses will continue in Washington on Tuesday, with higher level negotiations starting later in the week.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35641.79, up by 143.35 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 35477.47 and 35698.08. There were 24 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.69%, while Small cap index was up by 0.65%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.24%, Realty up by 1.99%, Metal up by 1.19%, Oil & Gas up by 1.05% and Energy up by 1.02%, while IT down by 1.46%, TECK down by 0.99%, Utilities down by 0.12% and Power down by 0.11% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 3.09%, Vedanta up by 2.43%, ICICI Bank up by 2.35%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.93% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.78%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.07%, NTPC down by 1.83%, TCS down by 1.60%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.91% and HCL Tech. down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a bid to help the Centre stick to its fiscal roadmap, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to pay Rs 28,000 crore to government as interim dividend in the half-year ended December 31, 2018 (RBI follows July-June financial year). This is the second successive year when the RBI will be transferring an interim surplus. This is in addition to Rs 50,000 crore surplus transfer announced by RBI in August 2018 for the financial year ending June 30, 2018. Of this, the RBI paid interim dividend of Rs 10,000 crore in March 2018 to support the government's fiscal position. RBI had given Rs 30,663 crore as dividend to the government in 2017-18.

The central bank transfers its surplus amount to the government, under Section 47 of the RBI Act, 1934. As per Section 47 of the Act, after making provision for bad and doubtful debts, depreciation in assets, contribution to staff and superannuation fund and for all matters for which provision is to be made by or under the Act or which are usually provided by bankers, the balance of the profits shall be paid to the central government. According to the Budget document, the government expects Rs 82,911.56 crore as dividend/ surplus of RBI, nationalised banks and financial institutions during 2019-20.

India’s fiscal deficit for 2018-19 will be 3.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), slightly higher than targeted 3.3 percent, on account of Rs 20,000 crore budgeted for income support to farmers. For 2019-20 too, the government has retained the fiscal deficit at 3.4 percent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10680.75, up by 39.80 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 10635.25 and 10694.70. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 3.21%, Vedanta up by 2.40%, ICICI Bank up by 2.29%, Grasim Industries up by 2.21% and BPCL up by 2.01%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.34%, NTPC down by 2.29%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 2.02%, TCS down by 1.57% and Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 1.23% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Nikkei 225 surged 20.80 points or 0.10% to 21,302.65, Jakarta Composite soared 20.65 points or 0.32% to 6,518.47, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 13.58 points or 0.13% to 10,158.86 and Straits Times was up by 1.87 points or 0.06% to 3,267.84. On the other side, KOSPI fell 5.27 points or 0.24% to 2,205.62, Shanghai Composite lost 7.05 points or 0.26% to 2,747.31 and Hang Seng was down by 56.55 points or 0.2% to 28,290.46.
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