Indian markets witness volatility in early noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks were witnessing a volatility during early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty now trading in red, on the back of selling at FMCG and Auto counters, despite positive cues from other Asian markets. Traders got cautious, after an analysis by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) showed that as many as 1,366 government tenders worth Rs 60,276 crore have been found non-compliant with public procurement norms. Meanwhile, in a move towards making the tax filing system more transparent, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has rolled out a new functionality in the Annual Information Statement (AIS) to display the status of information confirmation process.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, even after Indonesia's foreign trade surplus decreased in April from a year ago as imports grew faster than exports. The figures from Statistics Indonesia showed that the trade surplus dropped to $3.56 billion in April from $3.94 billion in the same month last year. In March, the surplus was $4.6 billion.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 73012.98, down by 91.63 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 72822.66 and 73301.47. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.72%, while Small cap index wasup by 1.02%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.83%, Capital Goods up by 1.58%, Industrials up by 1.37%, Metal up by 1.27% and PSU up by 1.20%, while FMCG down by 0.37%, Auto down by 0.33% and Bankex down by 0.27% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 1.41%, HCL Tech. up by 1.30%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.16%, Tata Steel up by 1.12% and Power Grid up by 0.94%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 1.41%, Sun Pharma down by 1.37%, Tata Motors down by 1.23%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.84% and Asian Paints down by 0.83% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, NITI Aayog member VK Saraswat has said that India's defence capabilities have gone up substantially during the past decade of the Modi government and now the country is dependent on arms import only for immediate requirements of the armed forces. He said at present 60 per cent of India's total arms and ammunition are indigenous.

He said ‘India's complete ecosystem of defence is largely now indigenous. We are dependent on imports only for immediate requirements of the armed forces or something which we do not have technology for.’ 

Commenting on Swedish think tank SIPRI's recent report, Saraswat said ‘while our arms requirement is going up, the ratio of imports to our overall defence requirement is decreasing, despite a rise in the total value of imports.’ Swedish think tank SIPRI on March 11 had said India remains the world's top arms importer and its imports increased by 4.7 per cent between 2014-2018 and 2019-2023.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22204.50, down by 13.35 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 22151.75 and 22297.55. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 3.82%, Coal India up by 3.51%, NTPC up by 1.39%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.23% and HCL Tech. up by 1.20%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 2.49%, Sun Pharma down by 1.40%, Tata Motors down by 1.36%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.34% and HDFC Bank down by 1.33% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite gained 92.27 points or 1.3% to 7,176.03, Nikkei 225 surged 29.67 points or 0.08% to 38,385.73 and Taiwan Weighted added 161.36 points or 0.76% to 21,147.21, while Shanghai Composite weakened 25.87 points or 0.82% to 3,119.90 and Straits Times fell 24.52 points or 0.74% to 3,288.83.