Markets managing to hold in green despite a volatile trade

The Indian markets are showing a choppy trade, moving in and out of the red since morning, traders are lacking conviction with Greece crisis still looming large. Greece's bailout program ends on Tuesday, when the country is unlikely to make a 1.6 billion euro ($1.8 billion) repayment to the International Monetary Fund, which may trigger capital outflows from India. Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi too has said that the economic crisis in Greece may trigger capital outflows from India and the government is consulting the RBI to deal with the situation.  Though, the broader markets have gained momentum the blue-chips are still to catch up. The bounce back in the regional peer, Chinese index and some recovery in the domestic currency too were unable to support the markets, while the Chinese market after plunging by around 5 percent in morning deals was up by over 4 percent, the Indian rupee has snapped its five days losing streak on fresh selling of the dollar by exporters and banks. Back on street, benchmarks were holding the crucial levels of 27700 (Sensex) and 8330 (Nifty), on sectoral front Consumer durables, healthcare, FMCG and metal were powering the markets, while some profit taking was seen in the IT, capital goods and banking stocks.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27661.01, up by 15.86 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 27570.95 and 27762.95. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were outperforming the benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.94%, while Small cap index added 0.79%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.70%, FMCG up by 1.25%, Metal up by 1.08%, PSU up by 0.37%, Realty up by 0.19%, while IT down by 0.62%, INFRA down by 0.41%, Capital Goods down by 0.25%, Power down by 0.24%, Bankex down by 0.11% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 2.30%, Lupin up by 2.12%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.92%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.63% and Tata Steel up by 1.42%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.59%, TCS down by 1.22%, ICICI Bank down by 1.12%, GAIL India down by 1.04% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.93% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid the growing concern of Greece exit from the European Union (EU), Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi has said that the economic crisis in Greece may trigger capital outflows from India and the government is consulting the RBI to deal with the situation, which would take necessary steps to deal with the issue but added that India does not have a firm plan in place to deal with any significant fallout. Greece's financial crisis intensified with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announcing capital controls and shutdown of banks at least for a week.

Mehrishi said that “Greece crisis does not have any effect directly on India. But interest rate may firm up in Europe. In case of firming up of interest rate in Europe, there can be outflow of capital from India.'  He added that this is a dynamic and evolving situation. There is no firm plan that we can access. Nobody can predict what the exact situation would be.

Finance Secretary said that if yields on euro bonds go up, it might impact inflows and outflows from India, adding that if yields on government securities go up in the US, that, too, may impact inflows and outflows. “We really don’t know how they (bond investors) will reallocate their portfolios.'

Industry too has raised red flag on the crisis turning contagion and Engineering Export Promotion Council of India said that exports will be affected as the European Union is the largest destination for such shipments. The industry body said it sees indirect impact from the UK, Italy, Turkey and France.  For April-May, engineering exports to the EU stood at $1.86 billion as against $1.89 billion in the year ago period.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8329.65, up by 11.25 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 8298.95 and 8356.45. There were 30 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Idea Cellular up by 2.70%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.56%, Coal India up by 2.45%, Lupin up by 2.13% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.09%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.75%, NTPC down by 1.59%, TCS down by 1.29%, ICICI Bank down by 1.17% and GAIL India down by 1.10% were the top losers.