Key benchmark indices witnessed a strong uptrend in the early afternoon trade. The Nifty comfortably breached 10,900 mark and advanced towards 11,000 level. The 50-unit index is significantly below its 200-day simple moving average (dma) placed at 11,199.
The buying was triggered by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing measures to revive the economy. Sitharaman after market hours on Friday, 23 August 2019, said the government has withdrawn the surcharge on foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), which she had unveiled in her budget for the fiscal year ending March 2020.
Meanwhile, a foreign brokerage upgraded India to 'overweight' on positive local developments amid rising global uncertainty. Reform measures and sectoral incentives could provide a much-needed booster shot, it said, adding that recovery is expected is the second half of the calendar year 2019 (H2CY19).
At 12:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 531.56 points or 1.45% at 37,232.72. The Nifty 50 index was up 137.10 points or 1.27% at 10,966.45.
Buying was broad based. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.96%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.96%.
The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1394 shares rose and 783 shares fell. A total of 107 shares were unchanged.
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On the derivatives front, the NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 0.11% at 17.3275.
The Nifty August 2019 futures were trading at 10,938.35, a discount of 2.7 points compared with the spot at 10,941.2.
On the options front, the Nifty option chain for 29 August 2019 expiry showed maximum call open interest (OI) of 52.45 lakh contracts at the 11,000 strike price. Maximum put OI of 33.15 lakh contracts was seen at 10,800 strike price.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone rose 3.03% to Rs 360 after the company said the proposed buyback offer of shares will open on 6 September and close on 20 September 2019. In June, the company announced its plan to buyback up to 3.92 crore fully paid up equity shares, or 1.89% stake, at Rs 500 each payable in cash for an amount aggregating up to Rs 1960 crore on a proportionate basis, through the tender offer route.
The private multi-port operator announced after trading hours on Friday, 23 August 2019, that it has received final comments on the 'Draft Letter of Offer' dated 13 June 2019 from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Accordingly, the company will dispatch the letter of offer along with the tender form to eligible shareholders (being the shareholders of the company as on the record date, 21 June 2019) on or before Thursday, 29 August 2019. The company will dispatch the letter of offer along with the tender form to eligible shareholders on or before 29 August 2019
PVR rose 2.67%. The cinema operator announced that the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved the scheme of amalgamation between PVR and SPI Cinemas, Chennai. The announcement was made during market hours today, 26 August 2019.
IT major TCS announced that Damen Shipyard, an international shipyard group, has selected TCS' ERP on Cloud Platform for greater scalability and agility. The stock was up 0.84% at Rs 2266.5.
Auto shares were mixed as the government did not provide GST relief to the auto industry. Hero MotoCorp (down 2.83%), TVS Motor Company (down 1.3%), Bajaj Auto (down 1.87%), Tata Motors (down 1.48%), Eicher Motors (down 0.62%) and Maruti Suzuki India (down 0.32%) declined. Ashok Leyland (up 4.73%), Escorts (up 3.97%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.92%) and gained.
Sitharaman on Friday, 23 August 2019, announced multiple initiatives to help boost the beleaguered automobile sector. The announcement came at a time when auto sales are reeling due to the massive downturn. However, there was no announcement on the Goods & Services Tax (GST) front. The auto sector was hopeful of a reduction in the GST rate from 28% to 18%, which could have revived the demand ahead of festive season. The finance minister indicated that she would meet the press twice over the coming weeks to address more issues. This has spurred hopes for additional measures for the auto sector, especially on scrappage policy and GST rate cut.
Hero MotoCorp's executive director, operations (plants) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Vikram Kasbekar, was quoted by the media as saying that two-wheelers, which are neither luxury nor 'sin' goods, require a reduction in the GST rate from 28% to 18%. This will help boost demand immediately leading to an even more positive impact, he added.
Among its slew of measures for the auto sector on Friday, 23 August 2019, FM assured that BS IV vehicles purchased till 31 March 2020 will remain operational for entire period of registration.
Sitharaman went on to speak about the proposed increase in one-time vehicle registration fee, saying that the proposal has been pushed back to June 2020. FM also approved higher depreciation for all vehicles. Sitharaman said that depreciation will be increased to 30% for all vehicles acquired during the period from now till 31 March 2020. The FM also clarified that both electric vehicles (EVs) and internal combustion vehicles (ICVs) will continue to be registered. Government's focus will be on setting up of infrastructure for development of ancillaries/components including batteries for export.
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