Nifty hovers around 8700; Infosys, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel soar

Moneycontrol Bureau12:45 pm GDP Growth: India is expected to clock a GDP growth of 7.1 percent in 2017-18 as the country gets sufficiently remonetised and the schemes in the Budget play a supportive role, says an HSBC report.

The uptick in the growth numbers would be largely driven by the remonetisation process which is expected by April end as this in turn would boost the consumption levels in the country.

"We expect GDP to grow at 7.1 percent year-on-year in 2017-18, up from 6.3 percent in 2016-17, as the country gets sufficiently remonetised (by April-end), and consumption moves back to pre-demonetisation levels," HSBC India Chief Economist Pranjul Bhandari said.

Growth numbers will be largely consumption driven as investment is expected to be a drag.12:25 pm Earnings: Mumbai-based real estate firm Godrej Properties reported healthy growth in third quarter earnings despite currency demonetisation. Profit on consolidated basis increased nearly 3-fold year-on-year to Rs 77.2 crore on strong response to new launches.

Total income from operations during the quarter increased 109.6 percent to Rs 518.2 crore compared with Rs 247.2 crore in same quarter last year.

"Response to new project launches in Noida and Pune has been excellent despite challenging market conditions. As we commence the final quarter of the financial year, we look forward to building on this momentum." Pirojsha Godrej, Managing Director and CEO said.

Also read - Market unsullied by Budget, but global outcomes a worry: Udayan12:00 pm Market Check

The market remained directionless in noon trade, with the Nifty hovering around 8700 as investors remained on the sideline after pricing in Union Budget. Corporate earnings and RBI policy are next key events.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 39.32 points at 28102.32 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 19.90 points to 8696.50.

Infosys, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs, Coal India and NTPC were top gainers among Sensex stocks, up 1.5-2 percent while HDFC, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, M&M and L&T fell 1-2.5 percent.

Asian stocks came under pressure as investors flooded into safe haven plays as the administration of President Donald Trump moves on fronts as diverse as Iran, global trade, immigration and the Supreme Court less than two weeks after taking office.

Gold edged up today, as the dollar weakened after the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged at its first meeting since President Donald Trump's inauguration. US gold futures were up 0.73 percent, to USD 1,217 an ounce.