Benchmarks trade in positive territory in early deals on Monday

After making a negative start, Indian equity markets returned to the positive territory and are now trading with the gains of around quarter a percent. At present, both the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,550 and 28,150 levels respectively. The broader indices were outperforming, trading with the gains in the range of 0.65-0.95%. The sentiment got a boost with Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha’s statement that India is aiming to be among the top 30 countries in the world in terms of ease of doing business from the present 142nd position among 189 nations. Rupee opened higher against the dollar on Monday and was trading at 64.01, up 12 paise at the Interbank Foreign Exchange that too supported the markets. However, gains remained capped on reports that foreign portfolio investors were net sellers in equities to the tune of Rs 278 crore on July 31, 2015, as per provisional stock exchange data. Further, some cautious is likely to prevail ahead of the RBI’s monetary policy announcement slated tomorrow.

In scrip specific development, Maruti Suzuki India was trading higher after the company reported a strong 20% year-on-year (YOY) growth in July sales at 1.22 lakh units, aided by passenger cars sales.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red, as decline in commodity prices, negative cues from Wall Street and weak Chinese manufacturing data dampened investor sentiment.

Back home traders were seen piling up position in Consumer Durables, Bankex, Power, PSU and Realty, while selling was witnessed in Capital Goods, Metal, INFRA, Oil & Gas and IT. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1242: 499 while 49 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28168.61, up by 54.05 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 28071.37 and 28201.48. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.91%, while Small cap index gained 0.69%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.21%, Bankex up by 1.14%, Power up by 0.58%, PSU up by 0.57% and Realty up by 0.34%, while Capital Goods down by 0.84%, Metal down by 0.42%, INFRA down by 0.26%, Oil & Gas down by 0.18% and IT down by 0.03% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 2.90%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.65%, ICICI Bank up by 1.60%, Tata Motors up by 0.83% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.67%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.19%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.06%, ONGC down by 1.52%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.04% and GAIL India down by 0.97% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, showing signs of inconsistent industrial growth, the Index of Eight Core Industries-coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity, which comprises nearly 38% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), slowed to 3 per cent in June after surging to a six-month high of 4.4 per cent in May. The combined Index of Eight Core Industries stood at 171.2 in June, 2015, three percent higher compared to the index of June, 2014. Its cumulative growth during April to June, 2015-16 was 2.4 per cent.

The decline in the core sector growth for the month of June was mainly on account of contraction in crude oil and natural gas production, while six other sectors reported improvement compared to same period last year. However, month-on-month data showed that barring fertilisers steel and flat production of Cement, all the others grew at a slower pace or showed contraction in June.

Crude Oil production having weight of 5.22% declined by 0.7% in June, 2015 over June, 2014. Its cumulative index during April to June, 2015-16 declined by 0.9% over the corresponding period of previous year. The Natural Gas production having weight of 1.71 % declined by 5.9 % in June, 2015, and its cumulative index during April to June, 2015-16 declined by 4.2 % over the corresponding period of previous year.

On the other hand, Coal production  having weight of 4.38% increased by 6.3% in June, 2015 over June, 2014, while its cumulative index during April to June, 2015-16 increased by 7.3% over corresponding period of previous year. Petroleum Refinery production having weight of  5.94% increased by 7.5% in June, 2015, with its cumulative index during April to June, 2015-16 increasing by 4.2% over the corresponding period of previous year. Fertilizer production having weight of 1.25%, increased by 5.8% in June, 2015, while its cumulative index during April to June, 2015-16 increased by 2.4% over the corresponding period of previous year. Steel production with weight of 6.68%, increased by 4.9% in June, 2015 and its cumulative index during April to June, 2015-16 increased by 2.8% over the corresponding period of previous year. Cement production having weight of 2.41% increased by 2.6% in June, 2015, while its cumulative index during April to June, 2015-16 increased by 0.9 % over the corresponding period of previous year. Electricity generation having weight of 10.32% increased by 0.2 % in June, 2015, while it’s cumulative index during April to June, 2015-16 increased by 1.5% over the corresponding period of previous year.

The weak performance of June core sector was also influenced by a positive base effect in June 2014 and may continue for the next two months as well, however it may strengthen the case of another rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8551.65, up by 18.80 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 8508.10 and 8555.80. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bank Of Baroda up by 5.89%, PNB up by 3.71%, SBI up by 2.70%, ICICI Bank up by 1.82% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.56%. On the flip side, HCL Tech. down by 4.14%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.82%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.30%, ONGC down by 1.47% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.18% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng decreased 238.88 points or 0.97% to 24,397.40, Taiwan Weighted decreased 153.04 points or 1.77% to 8,512.30, Shanghai Composite decreased 88.92 points or 2.43% to 3,574.80, Nikkei 225 decreased 82.37 points or 0.4% to 20,502.87, KOSPI Index decreased 21.96 points or 1.08% to 2,008.20, Straits Times decreased 6.71 points or 0.21% to 3,195.79, Jakarta Composite decreased 6.41 points or 0.13% to 4,796.12 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 2.56 points or 0.15% to 1,720.58.