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Sensex, Nifty remain firm
Feb-20-2019

Mirroring positive European markets, key Indian equity benchmarks remained firm in late afternoon session. In line with the larger peers, the broader markets too held their gains in late noon deals. Traders took encouragement, after Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu cleared a proposal aiming at simplifying the process of exemptions for Start-ups under Section 56 (2) (viib) of Income Tax Act, which will encourage investments in Start-Ups. However, upside were capped, amid reports that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) equity inflows to India from April to December 2018 declined by seven per cent. The latest figures released by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) showed that India managed to attract almost $33.5 billion from April to December 2018. In the same period in 2017, India’s FDI equity flows stood at almost $36 billion. Some concerns also came with a private report stating that despite the almost loose fiscal and monetary policies, the economy is likely to slow down to 6-6.5 percent in the first half of 2019, due to weak global demand, political uncertainty and tighter financial conditions.

On the sectoral front, stocks related to the tourism sector were trading lower, even after the Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved Swadesh Darshan Scheme: Integrated Development of Theme-based Tourist Circuits in the country. The scheme enhances the tourist attractiveness in a sustainable manner by developing world class infrastructure in the circuit/destinations.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as Germany's investor confidence improved further to its highest level in five months in February. The survey data from the ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research showed that the ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany rose to -13.4 points from -15.0 points in January. Asian markets were also trading in green, after US President Donald Trump said the US-China trade talks are going very well and added that an early March deadline to reach a deal could be postponed. Investors also awaited the minutes of the Federal Reserve's January policy meeting for clues on policymakers' thinking on interest rates and its balance sheet reduction policy.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35554.55, up by 201.94 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 35469.49 and 35653.14. There were 26 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.57%, while Small cap index was up by 0.53%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.40%, Basic Materials up by 1.62%, Oil & Gas up by 1.23%, Industrials up by 1.11% and PSU up by 1.10%, while FMCG down by 0.17% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 3.99%, Tata Steel up by 3.30%, ONGC up by 2.27%, SBI up by 1.64% and Yes Bank up by 1.58%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.07%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.81%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.27%, ITC down by 0.20% and Indusind Bank down by 0.19% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the domestic air passenger count has gone up by 9.10% in the month of January 2019. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data, domestic airlines flew 125.08 lakh passengers in January 2019, as against 114.65 lakh passengers carried in the same month of last year.

In terms of passenger load factor (PLF), SpiceJet reported 90.9% PLF during the month of January 2019, followed by Air Asia (88.4%), Go Air (87.4%), IndiGo (86.4%) and Jet Airways (86.1%). The passenger load factor in the month of January 2019 has shown decreasing trend compared to previous month due to the end of tourist season. Further, the overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for the reported month has been 1.81%.

In terms of on time performance (OTP), Go Air has taken lead from the rest with 75.9% of its flights arriving and departing as per schedule from four metro airports, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, followed by Vistara (75.3%) and Spicejet (69.2%). During January 2019, a total of 917 passenger related complaints had been received by the scheduled domestic airlines. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for the month of January 2019 has been around 0.73.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10674.20, up by 69.85 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 10646.40 and 10697.35. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 4.76%, Vedanta up by 3.92%, Tata Steel up by 3.45%, Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 3.24% and Hindalco up by 2.87%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 0.96%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.84%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.79%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.78% and Zee Entertainment down by 0.76% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in green; Hang Seng increased 285.92 points or 1.01% to 28,514.05, 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 22.58 points or 0.69% to 3,282.38, Jakarta Composite soared 5.39 points or 0.08% to 6,500.06 and Shanghai Composite was up by 5.57 points or 0.20% to 2,761.22.

All European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 gained 30.80 points or 0.43% to 7,209.97, France’s CAC rose 15.47 points or 0.30% to 5,175.99 and Germany’s DAX was up by 81.76 points or 0.72% to 11,390.97.
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