Markets trade in green though in a narrow range

There is not much movement on the street and the benchmark indices are trading in very tight range in early noon session albeit in green territory, after moving up and down of the neutral line. Traders have adopted a cautious approach ahead of the Consumer Price Index (CPI inflation) data slated to be announced later after the market hours. There is wide expectation that the inflation has increased, as during the last few weeks, unseasonably heavy rain in north and central India have damaged crops, leading to a rise in vegetable and foodgrain prices. There is buzz in banking and rate sensitive stocks after SBI announced revised rates on its home loans, making them the cheapest in the market, following it Housing Development Finance Corporation too announced the reduction in its Retail Prime Lending Rate (RPLR) by 20 basis points. Realty stocks are in jubilant mood on hopes that lower lending rates would increase demand for new homes, while the base rate reduction by different banks has led gains in the consumer durable stocks. Power companies functioning in Delhi, like Reliance Infra and Tata Power are showing some up move after they sought 20% hike in power tariff citing severe fund crunch.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28941.94, up by 62.56 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 28843.94 and 29005.03. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were outperforming the benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.69%, while Small cap index gained 1.18%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.21%, Realty up by 1.16%, Capital Goods up by 0.74%, INFRA up by 0.60%, FMCG up by 0.58%, while Auto down by 0.47%, Oil & Gas down by 0.08% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 2.30%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.57%, Tata Power up by 1.39%, HDFC up by 1.18% and Tata Steel up by 1.14%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 3.16%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.59%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.35%, Hindalco down by 1.27% and Tata Motors down by 1.05% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog has initiated the mid-term appraisal process of the 12th Five Year Plan. In a release, the highest planning body said that NITI Aayog has initiated the process of undertaking the mid-term appraisal of the 12th Plan and this opportunity is also being used to weave in the national development agenda discussed in the meeting of the Governing Council for its suitable implementation in the remaining two years of the 12th Plan.

NITI Aayog completed 100 days and said it is working like a “directional and policy dynamo” of the government in liaising with the states while fostering the spirit of cooperative federalism. Under instruction from the PM to explain what it has achieved since inception three months ago, the body said two task forces have been formed in order to tackle the crucial subjects of agriculture development and elimination of poverty under the leadership of economist and NITI vice chairman Arvind Panagariya. NITI Aayog said the last three months have been “tremendous” in the role of its inception as a think thank of the government.

NITI Aayog, which has replaced the erstwhile 50 years old Planning Commission, is being led by the noted economist Arvind Panagariya as its vice chairman, while Bibek Debroy and V K Saraswat are the full-time members of the institution and Sindhushree Khullar is the Chief Executive Officer.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8794.45, up by 14.10 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 8762.10 and 8803.70. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BHEL up by 2.39%, Idea Cellular up by 1.91%, PNB up by 1.83%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.47% and Tata Power up by 1.39%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 3.19%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.05%, Hindalco down by 1.31%, Tata Motors down by 1.24% and ACC down by 1.09% were the top losers.

Most of the Asian markets were trading in green, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 1.06 points or 0.06% to 1,845.37, Straits Times gained 9.23 points or 0.27% to 3,481.61, KOSPI Index was up by 11.16 points or 0.53% to 2,098.92, Taiwan Weighted added 48.82 points or 0.51% to 9,666.52, Shanghai Composite surged by 75.8 points or 1.88% to 4,110.11 and Hang Seng zoomed 432.31 points or 1.59% to 27,704.70.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite declined by 35.89 points or 0.65% to 5,455.45 and Nikkei 225 was down by 2.17 points or 0.01% to 19,905.46.