Benchmarks continue to trade sluggish in noon deals

Markets continue to show a sluggish trend in the noon deals, with not much respite in sight, though the selling has got arrested and the benchmarks are trading in tight band. Traders seem to have overlooked the Finance Ministry’s statement that India is well prepared to deal with the impact of the US Federal Reserve interest rate hike and the end of uncertainties will actually help policy makers in emerging economies. Weakness in rupee too weighed down sentiments. The Indian rupee weakened by 8 paise to 66.50 to the US dollar following gains in the American currency after the US Fed raised interest rate by 25 basis points, the first in nearly a decade.

On the global front, all the Asian markets were trading in red at this point of time on anxiety over commodities and the widening divergence in global monetary policy. Back home, selling in software counter dampened the sentiments after the sharp hike in H-1B and L-1 visas by the US Congress. Private banking stocks were subdued following the RBI directive on the new lending rate regime from April 1, 2016. Oil stocks too remained under pressure tracking weakness in global crude oil prices. The broader indices, however, were outperforming benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1311 shares on the gaining side against 1,096 shares on the losing side while 207 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25673.72, down by 130.06 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 25629.58 and 25789.51. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.55%, while Small cap index up by 0.23%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.27%, Power up by 0.56%, Realty up by 0.52%, Capital Goods up by 0.47% and PSU up by 0.38%, while IT down by 0.92%, TECK down by 0.70%, Metal down by 0.41%, Bankex down by 0.32% and Oil & Gas down by 0.18% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 1.59%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.94%, Axis Bank up by 0.54%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.48% and Cipla up by 0.37%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.59%, Vedanta down by 1.32%, Infosys down by 1.27%, TCS down by 1.20% and Lupin down by 1.15% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a bid to help enhance farmers' income and provide processed food products to consumers at affordable rates, the government is considering to frame a comprehensive policy for the food sector. Stressing on the need to further strengthen the linkage of the farms with the market and industry, Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said “I think there should be a one comprehensive food policy, which encompasses policies for agriculture, distribution of food and food processing, that is the need of the hour and we are thinking on those lines”.

In order to help the farmers to raise their income levels, Badal emphasized upon the need to make agriculture a more profitable profession. She said the government plans to establish a task force to prepare a vision for the food processing sector by 2020. It is an ongoing process, the government wants to create such environment where farmers income level rises, promotes processing and at the same time, food products for consumers are available at affordable prices.

Badal further highlighted that government is taking steps to ease product approval system of food regulator FSSAI and working on a new mechanism where manufacturers may not need approval for their products if ingredients are cleared.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7804.45, down by 39.90 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 7792.80 and 7836.15. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 1.55%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.34%, PNB up by 1.10%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.06% and Adani Ports & Special up by 1.03%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 2.26%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.74%, Vedanta down by 1.55%, Indusind Bank down by 1.38% and Lupin down by 1.37% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 declined 366.76 points or 1.9% to 18,986.80, Jakarta Composite dropped 69.19 points or 1.52% to 4,486.78, Taiwan Weighted decreased 62.35 points or 0.75% to 8,257.32, Hang Seng slipped 37.52 points or 0.17% to 21,834.54, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI shed 10.17 points or 0.61% to 1,646.35, Shanghai Composite dipped 3.37 points or 0.09% to 3,576.63 and KOSPI Index was down by 2.64 points or 0.13% to 1,975.32.