Benchmarks continue to trade lower in late morning session

Indian markets continued to move in tight range, there is no respite for the major indices, which lost their way since beginning of the trade and were down by over 0.20%, with frontline gauges trading below their crucial 8,600 (Nifty) and 28,450 (Sensex) levels. Sentiments remained subdued on expectation that uncertainty over monsoon, the Index of industrial Production (IIP) for May and the retail inflation data for June might push the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to keep the interest rates unchanged in its next bi-monthly policy review meeting in August. Apart from that, a cautious stance by participants ahead of the quarterly earnings by several bluechip companies including Infosys and RIL, to be released this week, influenced sentiments. However, investors find some support from report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 605.56 crore on July 17, 2015. Furthermore, overseas investors have poured in a net amount of about USD one billion (Rs 6,500 crore) in the Indian capital markets so far this month, helped by positive global cues and easing of foreign investment norms. Meanwhile, the markets movement in the near term will depend on further reform initiatives to be taken by the Indian government in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament, which will start from July 21, 2015.

On global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as investors put Greece's debt crisis behind them to focus on the outlook for interest rates, corporate earnings and China's economy. Last week Greece agreed to a swathe of new austerity measures from creditors in exchange for much needed cash that will keep it in the eurozone for now.  On Friday, the Nasdaq composite had pushed further into record territory, gaining 46 points, at 5210 on strong results from Google, while the Dow Jones was down 33 points, or 0.1% at 18,086. Back home, Indian rupee weakened by 9 paise to 63.56 against the US dollar in early trade as the American currency strengthened on expectations of interest rate hike by US Fed by the end of the year.

Back on street, stocks from Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables and Auto counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Realty, Banking and IT counters was adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, Shares of Inox Leisure have rallied after the company reported a nearly five-fold jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 25.26 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 (Q1), on the back of strong operational income. On the flip sides, Shares of Federal Bank have slipped after the bank reported a 36% year-on-year decline in its standalone net profit at Rs 141 crore due to higher provisions for non-performing assets of a large customer.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2252 stocks traded, 1281 stocks advanced, while 888 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28401.44, down by 61.87 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 28359.28 and 28549.13. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.33%, while Small cap index up by 0.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.36%, Consumer Durables up by 0.36%, Auto up by 0.20%, Infrastructure up by 0.10% and FMCG up by 0.05%, while Realty down by 0.95%, Bankex down by 0.55%, IT down by 0.46%, TECK down by 0.22% and PSU down by 0.19% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.40%, Hindalco up by 1.12%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.70%, Tata Steel up by 0.65% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.61%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.25%, Axis Bank down by 1.21%, HDFC down by 1.12%, Tata Motors down by 0.92% and BHEL down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to push exports and explore new markets, the government will soon unveil an interest subvention scheme for exporters. This scheme will give encouragement to sectors that have high potential.

Commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the triggers for improving the export performance were not really happening and the ministry was discussing the matter with industry groups to find ways to increase exports and explore new markets.

At present, country’s exports are facing problems on account of international demand not picking up and depreciation in currencies, mainly euro. Under the scheme, exporters get loans at affordable rates. Loans at subsidised rates are expected to help exporters increase their shipments as the country's exports have been declining during the previous seven months. The earlier interest subvention scheme, under which banks provided an interest subsidy of 3% to exporters, ended on March 31, 2015.  

The government has also stated that it will set up a Trade Facilitation Council consisting of members of Centre and states, in order to increase the performance of India’s overseas shipments.

Merchandise exports from country have been declining continuously for the last seven months. In June 2015, country’s exports dropped by15.82 percent to $22.28 billion on account of global slowdown and decline in crude oil prices that impacted shipments of petroleum products.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8583.95, down by 25.90 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 8569.50 and 8623.90. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Idea Cellular up by 1.63%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.35%, Hindalco up by 1.21%, BPCL up by 0.87% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.86%. On the flip side, ACC down by 2.90%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.22%, Tata Power down by 1.98%, PNB down by 1.76% and Infosys down by 1.34% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng was down by 0.24%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.65%, Shanghai Composite down by 0.43%, KOSPI Index down by 0.22% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI down by 0.26%.  On the flip side, Straits Times was up by 0.31%.

The markets in Japan and Indonesia are closed for public holidays.