Markets to get a cautious start; Infosys numbers eyed

The Indian markets made a soft start of the week and ended mildly in red in last session. Today, the start is likely to remain cautious as the traders will be eyeing the monsoon session of Parliament, which is likely to be stormy. The government has lined up a list of 11 bills for Parliament’s approval. Topping the list is the long-awaited 122nd Constitution Amendment Bill that aims to pave the way for the goods and services tax, GST. Meanwhile, a Parliamentary Committee, which scrutinised the crucial GST Bill, has prepared a draft report wherein the government has agreed to provide compensation to states for any revenue loss for five years. The PSU stocks will be in action on report that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is likely to hold a review meeting this week on disinvestment plans for the fiscal. There will be some buzz in the power sector, as United Nations has said that India can lead the world in the area of sustainable energy from renewable sources, as its clean energy target is way ahead of the UN global goal. The whole IT sector will be reacting to the numbers of Infosys, slated to be announced by the start of the trade today, traders will be eyeing the FY16 and FY17 guidance commentary and Q1 revenue growth numbers of the company, which can give clues about the performance of the whole IT pack in first quarter.

The US markets ended modestly higher, with Nasdaq snapping the session at a new record closing high. Though, the trade remained lackluster as traders were reluctant to make significant moved ahead of the release of some major earnings. The Asian markets have made mostly mixed start, though the Japanese market was moving higher on weaker yen.

Back home, snapping their three days gaining streak, Indian equity benchmarks ended the choppy day of trade with marginal losses on Monday as investors opted to book some profit off the table after couple of rallies. Domestic bourses after a positive start turned choppy and even went on to test important psychological 28,300 (Sensex) and 8,550 (Nifty) levels, but the key gauges got some support near those intraday low levels as they trimmed their losses from thereon as investors continued hunt for fundamentally strong stocks. Overall, sentiment on the street remained down-beat as marketmen remained on sidelines eying the monsoon session that begins tomorrow in the Parliament. The NDA government will introduce eight new bills and take up 11 pending bills, including the controversial Land bill and the GST bill, for consideration and passage. Traders also remained cautious ahead of earnings to be released later this week of index heavyweights including Reliance Industries, Infosys, HDFC Bank. Further, the progress of monsoons was closely watched by the market participants. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that there was 8% nation-wide deficiency in monsoon till Sunday. Though, it has also said that the widespread monsoon showers over Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and the North-Eastern states on Sunday are expected to somewhat make up for the pan-India rain deficiency. On the global front, European counters made a firm start, while Asian markets ended mostly in red. Back home, Selling in banking counter too dampened the sentiments after government decided to keep banks out of the composite foreign investment cap. Even though there was report that Finance Ministry will seek Parliament's nod for the infusion of Rs 12000 crore funds into the PSU banks. For the current fiscal, the government has allocated Rs 7,940 crore in the Budget for capital infusion in state-owned banks and the said infusion will be in addition to budget allocation. Finally, the BSE Sensex declined by 43.19 points or 0.15% to 28420.12, while the CNX Nifty lost 6.40 points or 0.07% to 8603.45.