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Benchmarks trade with marginal gains in early deals
Apr-18-2019

Indian equity markets have made positive start and are trading with marginal gains in early deals on Thursday. Broader indices -- both BSE Mid cap and Small cap are garnering gains of over quarter a percent each. Traders took encouragement with report that investments through participatory notes (P-notes) in domestic capital market rose to Rs 78,110 crore at the end of March, amid positive market sentiments. As per the latest SEBI data, the total value of P-note investments in Indian markets -- equity, debt, and derivatives -- stood at Rs 78,110 crore till March-end. Some support also came with report that the issuance of government-fully serviced bonds (GoI-FSBs) rose to Rs 64,192 crore in the year ended March 2019 as compared to Rs 15,095 crore during the last fiscal. These borrowings are estimated to have accounted for 0.34 percent of GDP for FY19 as compared to 0.09 percent of GDP for FY18.

However, lackluster global cues capped the upside. Asian markets are trading mostly in red after a negative performance on Wall Street, with caution ahead of business surveys in Europe and Japan, and the Good Friday and Easter holidays keeping investors on the sidelines. Back home, steel industry stocks were in focus, with report that steel demand in India is expected to grow above 7 per cent in the current as well as next year. In 2020, the demand is projected to grow 1 per cent to 1,752 MT. In scrip specific development, Reliance Industry came in limelight ahead of its Q4 results scheduled to be reported later in the day.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39342.11, up by 66.47 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 39341.09 and 39487.45. There were 15 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.37%, while Small cap index was down by 0.41%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.48%, Auto up by 0.23%, Oil & Gas up by 0.18% while, Realty down by 2.13%, Telecom down by 1.50%, Metal down by 1.31%, PSU down by 0.79%, Basic Materials down by 0.71% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.36%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.20%, Tata Motors up by 1.76%, Asian Paints up by 1.11% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.59%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 2.16%, Vedanta down by 2.08%, SBI down by 1.90%, Tata Steel down by 1.57% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.33% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with positive market sentiments, the share of foreign portfolio investments (FPI) in domestic capital markets through participatory notes (P-notes) jumped to Rs 78,110 crore at the end of March. According to Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) data, total value of P-note investments in Indian markets including equity, debt and derivatives, at March end climbed to Rs 78,110 crore from Rs 73,428 crore at the end of February.

Of the total, P-notes holdings in equities at March-end were at Rs 56,288 crore, while in debts and derivatives were at Rs 20,999 crore and Rs 119 crore respectively. Besides, the quantum of FPI investments via P-notes declined to 2.3% during the period under review from 2.4% in the preceding month. P-notes are issued by registered foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to overseas investors who wish to be a part of the Indian stock market without registering themselves directly after going through a due diligence process.

Prior to this, investment via P-notes were on declining trend as in December it was Rs 79,513 crore then it fell to Rs 75,693 crore in January and Rs 73,428 crore in February. Earlier, in July 2017, SEBI had notified stricter norms stipulating a fee of $1,000 on each instrument to check any misuse for channelising black money. It had also prohibited FPIs from issuing such notes where the underlying asset is a derivative, except those which are used for hedging purposes.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11794.15, up by 7.00 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 11792.35 and 11856.15. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 2.40%, Tata Motors up by 1.58%, Wipro up by 1.16%, Asian Paints up by 0.97% and Tech Mahindra up by 0.60%. On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 2.55%, SBI down by 2.34%, Yes Bank down by 2.08%, Hindalco down by 2.00% and Vedanta down by 1.89% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 181.85 points or 0.6% to 29,942.83, Nikkei 225 slipped 129.09 points or 0.58% to 22,148.88, KOSPI fell 26.94 points or 1.2% to 2,218.95 and Shanghai Composite declined 7.45 points or 0.23% to 3,255.67. On the other hand, Straits Times advanced 0.09 points or 0% to 3,348.73, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 9.15 points or 0.08% to 11,006.41 and Jakarta Composite soared 45.50 points or 0.7% to 6,527.04.
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