Benchmarks trade in green in early deals on Tuesday

After falling for last many sessions, Indian equity benchmarks have made flat but positive opening and are now trading with the gains of around half a percent on bargain buying activities by market-participants at lower levels, with Sensex near 24,950 level and Nifty trading near 7,600 level respectively. Sentiment turned positive and traders were eyeing the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting and wide-ranging discussion on global economic scenario with business leaders as well as bankers and economists. The meeting is being held amid turbulence in global markets caused by a slowing Chinese economy, devaluation of the yuan and concerns surrounding the prospect of a US rate hike. Further, some support also came with Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha’s statement that the government has the fiscal space to be able to absorb additional financial burden on account of OROP, without having any impact of the fiscal deficit target of 3.9 percent. Additionally, appreciation in Indian rupee against dollar too supported the markets. The rupee was up by 8 paise to 66.47 against the US dollar in early trade today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red after Beijing introduced fresh measures - including tax cuts and a proposed 'circuit breaker' system - to discourage speculation and stem further slides in share prices.

Closer home, most of the sectoral indices on BSE were trading in red, with prominent losers being the stocks from Healthcare, Consumer Durables, FMCG, Capital Goods and INFRA counters. On the flip side, stocks from Bankex, Realty, Power and PSU counters were the few gainers of the session. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 614: 970 while 60 scrips remained unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24995.52, up by 101.71 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 24842.05 and 25018.90. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.29%, while Small cap index lost 0.56%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 0.99%, Realty up by 0.13%, Power up by 0.12% and PSU up by 0.05%, while Healthcare  down by 1.65%, Consumer Durables down by 1.25%, FMCG down by 0.74%, Capital Goods down by 0.37% and INFRA down by 0.31% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 1.66%, HDFC up by 1.37%, Tata Steel up by 1.16%, Axis Bank up by 1.13% and NTPC up by 1.07%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.28%, Cipla down by 2.26%, Lupin down by 1.90%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.59% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.28% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to have a brainstorming session on agenda -- 'Recent Global Events: Opportunities for India', with the business leaders as well as bankers and economists of the country and will have a wide-ranging discussion on global economic scenario to explore opportunities for India against the backdrop of global events.The meeting being held amid turbulence in global markets caused by a slowing Chinese economy, devaluation of the yuan and concerns surrounding the prospect of a US rate hike will be attended by over 40 delegates, including Cabinet ministers, top officials of the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), industry representatives, top bankers and leading economists and sectoral experts.

It has been reported that Finance minister Arun Jaitley, RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya, finance secretary R P Watal, economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das, among others, will listen to the views of India Inc to prepare a road map on how India could take advantage from the events in China.From industry, Reliance Industries head Mukesh Ambani, Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry along with Bharti Airtel chief Sunil Bharti Mittal, Essar Group head Shashi Ruia, Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani, Adani Group head Gautam Adani, ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya too will be attending the meeting.

The government has already been saying that India should take advantage of the global turbulence and look at how to convert it into an opportunity. In the meeting a wide-ranging discussion is expected on the impact of recent economic events, and how best India can take advantage of them. This is PM Modi's second high-level interaction with industry captains since he assumed office. As many has 27 business leaders, bankers and economists have been invited for the meeting.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7593.00, up by 34.20 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 7539.50 and 7597.70. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Power up by 1.78%, Axis Bank up by 1.52%, Yes Bank up by 1.48%, GAIL India up by 1.47% and Tata Steel up by 1.25%. On the flip side, Cairn India down by 3.50%, Cipla down by 2.31%, Vedanta down by 2.11%, Lupin down by 1.75% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.41% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 290.96 points or 1.63% to 17,569.51, Shanghai Composite decreased 42.37 points or 1.38% to 3,038.05, Hang Seng decreased 21.03 points or 0.1% to 20,562.49, Straits Times decreased 19.82 points or 0.69% to 2,832.59, Jakarta Composite decreased 16.21 points or 0.38% to 4,285.16, KOSPI Index decreased 11.69 points or 0.62% to 1,871.53 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 3.87 points or 0.24% to 1,578.98.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted increased 18.68 points or 0.23% to 8,005.24.