Markets trade in fine fettle in noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks are trading in fine fettle with a gain of around one third of a percent in noon deals. Some support came with report that oil subsidy during the current fiscal could be limited to just two-thirds of last fiscal and a little over 40 per cent of the all-time high during 2012-13 due to drop in global crude prices. Appreciation in Indian rupee against dollar too aided the sentiments. However, gains remained capped as investors opted to remain sidelines on penultimate day of F&O expiry. Sentiments also remained dampened on report that foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth a net Rs 1375.66 crore on July 28, 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

On the global front, European counters have made a positive start with CAC, DAX and FTSE all trading with a gain of over half a percent in early deals. Asian markets were trading mostly in red, while Chinese Shanghai was trading with a gain of around two percent on hopes that Beijing could stem the rout in its markets without damage to the economy. Back home, on the sectoral front, software, technology and capital goods witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while consumer durables, fast moving consumer goods and realty remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were trading in-line with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1532 shares on the gaining side against 983 shares on the losing side while 98 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27547.94, up by 88.71 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 27470.09 and 27591.65. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.44%, while Small cap index up by 0.72%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.67%, TECK up by 1.35%, Capital Goods up by 0.64%, Auto up by 0.61%, Bankex up by 0.07% while, Consumer Durables down by 2.39%, FMCG down by 0.59%, Realty down by 0.46%, PSU down by 0.42%, Oil & Gas down by 0.35% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.48%, BHEL up by 1.78%, Wipro up by 1.63%, HDFC up by 1.37% and Tata Motors up by 1.26%. On the flip side, ITC down by 2.76%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.63%, GAIL India down by 1.39%, SBI down by 1.25% and NTPC down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has said that lack of good economists in the country is impacting the policy making, adding that a lot of policy-making is done without understanding the general equilibrium which is often the key contribution that an economist can make to the dialogue. He also said that the need for good economists is to frame sensible policies.

The governor further said that in our country there is a tremendous need for good and capable economists. There is need for economists in Delhi, Mumbai and all over the country as we have lost a generation of economists.

Rajan said that the kind of economics needed in India is based on a good understanding of the fundamentals of economics such as price theory and general equilibrium, which is the difficult concept to understand and said that there is a need for “rigorous fundamentals” in economics based on blood, sweat, tears and toil. He also stressed on the need for academic institutions to focus equally on the research.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8361.60, up by 24.60 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 8338.45 and 8374.90. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech. up by 3.11%, Bosch up by 2.95%, Infosys up by 2.44%, Wipro up by 1.63% and BHEL up by 1.58%. On the flip side, PNB down by 3.60%, Tata Power down by 3.31%, ITC down by 2.83%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.80% and GAIL India down by 1.51% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 25.98 points or 0.13% to 20,302.91, Taiwan Weighted shed 19.01 points or 0.22% to 8,563.48, KOSPI Index slipped 1.48 points or 0.07% to 2,037.62, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dipped 1.17 points or 0.07% to 1,698.53 and Straits Times was down by 1.03 points or 0.03% to 3,280.06.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite increased 9.93 points or 0.21% to 4,724.69, Shanghai Composite surged 72.12 points or 1.97% to 3,735.12 and Hang Seng increased 134.61 points or 0.55% to 24,638.55.

European Markets were trading in the green; Germany’s DAX gained 0.55%, France’s CAC rose 0.61% and UK’s FTSE was up by 0.66%.