Market to make a flat start of the new week

The Indian markets made a flat closing in last session, with trade remaining choppy lacking any major supportive cues. Today, the start of the politically crucial week is likely to be flat to cautious, as the regional peers are trading mixed. Traders will be eyeing the monsoon session of Parliament, which begins on Tuesday and will shape the sentient on reforms. Marketmen will be getting some encouragement with Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that the Indian economy will register an increased growth by 2-3 percent if the country's railway network is pumped with a massive investment to boost the connectivity. The infra stocks will be in action, as Road Transport and Highways Minister Gadkari has said that as a part of efforts to boost road infrastructure for faster connectivity, the Centre is planning to start work on 10 world-class express highways, which will not only reduce travel time but also propel country's economic growth. Exports oriented stocks too will be in action, as the government concerned over continuous decline in exports has constituted council comprising members of the Centre and states to promote India's overseas shipments. Some buzz will be seen in the power sector too, with Power distribution companies (discoms) in the capital asking the power regulator to raise electricity tariff by as much as 20 per cent, citing widening revenue gap of around Rs 28,000 crore.

The US markets ended higher in last session on upbeat earnings from Google and on reports showing significant increases in both housing starts and building permits in the month of June. The Asian markets have made a mixed start with some indices trading in red, though the Chinese market extending its gains has surged once again, surpassing the 4000 level.

Back home, after witnessing gains of around two percent in previous two sessions, Indian equity indices went through consolidation on Friday with frontline gauges holding their crucial 28,400 (Sensex) and 8,600 (Nifty) bastions. Benchmark indices moved in a narrow range throughout the session with bouts of volatility witnessed during the trade. Earlier, markets made a firm start as some support came in with government’s move of introducing a composite foreign investment cap by clubbing all forms of overseas investments to define sectoral limits. Some support also came with Asian Development Bank (ADB) retaining its India GDP growth projection for 2015-16 at 7.8 percent in its supplement to the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2015. But markets lost momentum and turned flat as investors opted to book profits at higher levels. Sentiments turned down-beat on monsoon worries. The southwest monsoon was 32 per cent below normal in the first 15 days of July, key month for sowing of kharif crops. Large tracts of central and southern India remained dry. This could have serious impact on the final output of pulses and oilseeds, unless there is a pick-up in the second half of this month. Also, once again there was some cautiousness emanating from Greece, with IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde stating that the institution will participate in the third bailout only if the program is ‘complete’, adding that Greek plan is 'categorically' not viable and the country is in need of a debt reduction. On the global front, European counters traded mostly in red in early deals, while Asian markets ended mostly in green. Back home, banking stocks remained under pressure after government decided to keep banks out of the composite foreign investment cap too dampened the sentiments. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 17.19 points or 0.06% to 28463.31, while the CNX Nifty added 1.80  points or 0.02% to 8609.85.