Benchmarks trade marginally in green in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks have erased all its early losses and are trading marginally in green in the early noon session on account of buying in heavyweight stocks such as Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone, Reliance Industries and Tata Motors. Sentiment got some support with the report that the government is likely to meet its fiscal deficit target of 3.9 per cent of the GDP for the current financial year, largely on account of the latest round of excise duty hikes on oil products and marginal compression in expenditure. Further, investors got some encouragement with the Union Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that the Indian economy is growing at over 7 percent despite weakness in the exports sector. She also said that the Foreign Direct investment (FDI) inflows in the country are improving day by day. However, gains remained capped with exporters body FIEO’s observation after exports fell for the 14th month in a row, that the country may end up with outbound shipments of $260 billion in 2015-16, sharply lower than the $310.5 billion mark achieved in the previous fiscal.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, following the positive cues overnight from Wall Street, though gains are muted in most markets amid subdued risk aversion. Back home, in scrip specific development, shares of Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) were trading higher after the company has received clearance from the Environment Ministry for a Rs 337-crore project at its Kochi Refinery in Kerala. Thomas Cook was trading higher after the company has entered into an agreement with accommodation website Airbnb to offer Indian out-bound travellers access to a range of unique accommodation experience.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 23193.89, up by 1.92 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 22920.84 and 23241.88. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.69%, while Small cap index down by 0.69%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.90%, Capital Goods up by 0.47%, Realty up by 0.45% and PSU up by 0.26%, while Consumer Durables down by 3.01%, Metal down by 0.88%, Bankex down by 0.42%, FMCG down by 0.32%, TECK down by 0.17% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports &Special up by 2.69%, Tata Motors up by 1.84%, BHEL up by 1.74%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.42% and Reliance Industries up by 1.36%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 2.05%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.00%, GAIL India down by 1.89%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.53% and Coal India down by 1.38% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with a view to bring interest on small savings in line with market rates, the government has slashed interest rate on short-term post office saving deposits by 0.25 percent. This advantage has been withdrawn with effect from April 1, 2016 and henceforth the rates would be revised every quarter and would be decided on the 15th of the preceding month. Besides, the compounding of interest, which is biannual in the case of 10-year National Saving Certificate, 5-year National Saving Certificate and KVP, shall be done on an annual basis from April 1. The Finance Ministry said that small saving interest rates are perceived to limit the banking sector’s ability to lower deposit rates in response to the monetary policy of the Reserve Bank of India. This move would help the economy move to a lower overall interest rate regime eventually and thereby help all, particularly low-income and salaried classes.

Besides, Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, Senior Citizen Savings Scheme and the Monthly Income Scheme (MIS) which command 0.75 per cent, 1 per cent and 0.25 per cent higher interest rate respectively than G-secs will remain untouched as they are linked to social security goals. Similarly, long-term instruments such as 5-year term deposit and similar tenure National Saving Certificates as well as Public Provident Fund (PPF) have been left unchanged. Currently, PPF deposits get 8.7 per cent interest rate while girl child scheme Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana commands 9.2 per cent. MIS gets 8.4 per cent interest rate.

At present Post office savings of 1, 2 and 3 year term deposits, Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) as well as 5-year Recurring Deposits till now earned 0.25 per cent higher interest than the Government securities of similar tenures.

The government has also permitted pre-mature closure of PPF accounts in genuine cases, like cases of serious ailment, higher education of children. This shall be permitted with a penalty of 1 per cent reduction in interest payable on the whole deposit and only for the accounts having completed five years from the date of opening.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7050.00, up by 1.75 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 6960.65 and 7059.75. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 3.78%, Adani Ports &Special up by 2.72% , Bank of Baroda up by 2.64%, BHEL up by 2.03% and Tata Motors up by 1.93%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 2.76%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.85%, GAIL India down by 1.80%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.67% and Lupin down by 1.60% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.04 points or 0.12% to 1,667.03, Taiwan Weighted increased 2.18 points or 0.03% to 8,214.25, Shanghai Composite increased 8.05 points or 0.28% to 2,844.62 and Jakarta Composite increased 20.84 points or 0.44% to 4,765.85, while Nikkei 225 decreased 273.4 points or 1.7% to 15,781.03, Hang Seng decreased 118.52 points or 0.62% to 19,003.56 and KOSPI Index decreased 4.23 points or 0.22% to 1,884.07.