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Indian bourses continue to trade in positive territory
Feb-20-2019

Key benchmark indices continued to trade in positive territory in afternoon session, on the back of buying by funds and retail investors. The indices remained positive with Care Ratings’ report that signalling an end to the liquidity crisis that NBFCs have been facing since last September, corporate bond issuances by them have risen by 30% in January, reflecting renewed confidence among both issuers as well as investors. Additional support came as the Cabinet approved a new electronics policy which aims to create a $400 billion electronic manufacturing ecosystem by 2025 and generate 1 crore jobs in the country. The National Electronics Policy 2019 proposes to boost mobile manufacturing in the country to 1 billion units worth $190 billion of which 600 million units worth $110 billion will be exported from the country. Investors also took cues from other Asian equities that were trading positive on hopes of a resolution to US-China trade tiff. Back home, on the sectoral front, Airline stocks such as SpiceJet and InterGlobe Aviation gained after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data indicating that the domestic air passenger count gone up by 9.10% in the month of January 2019. Domestic airlines flew 125.08 lakh passengers in January 2019, as against 114.65 lakh passengers carried in the same month of last year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35507.35, up by 154.74 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 35500.96 and 35653.14. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.36%, while Small cap index was up by 0.51%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.92%, Basic Materials up by 1.51%, Oil & Gas up by 1.14%, Capital Goods up by 1.06% and Industrials up by 0.95%, while FMCG down by 0.14% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 3.20%, Tata Steel up by 3.05%, ONGC up by 1.51%, Yes Bank up by 1.39% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.34%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.91%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.83%, TCS down by 0.77%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.59% and HCL Tech. down by 0.56% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Global Rating agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) in latest report titled 'Indian Corporate 2019 Outlook - Time For Caution' has stated that revenue growth of rated Indian corporates is likely to slow down over the next 12-24 months. It also said that India's central government elections this year may pose additional risks for Indian corporates. It also noted that a change of administration may trigger expansionary government spending which may push up borrowing costs or even raise inflation.

According to the report, global risks such as stability of commodity prices as well as demand from the US and China will have a greater impact on the fortunes of Indian companies than domestic demand in the next year or two. It added that the revenue environment for rated corporates is facing increasing global risks such as China's slowdown, trade war escalation or a disorderly Brexit.

However, the rating agency said that the performance of Indian companies should remain stable, given low costs, capacity expansion, and benign input prices. It also noted that with the exception of telecom, growth in other sectors in India has been accompanied by margin stability and it expects that this trend to continue.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10660.90, up by 56.55 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 10652.20 and 10697.35. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 3.41%, Vedanta up by 3.27%, Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 2.67%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.58% and GAIL India up by 2.28%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 0.91%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.80%, TCS down by 0.64%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.58% and HCL Tech. down by 0.55% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; Hang Seng increased 242.81 points or 0.86% to 28,470.94, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 120.20 points or 1.18% to 10,272.46, Nikkei 225 surged 128.84 points or 0.6% to 21,431.49, KOSPI rose 24.13 points or 1.09% to 2,229.76, Straits Times advanced 13.99 points or 0.43% to 3,273.79, Jakarta Composite soared 5.39 points or 0.08% to 6,500.06 and Shanghai Composite gained 5.30 points or 0.19% to 2,760.95.

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