Choppiness continues on Dalal Street in noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade choppy in noon deals as investors booked profits at higher levels after two days of rally. Correcting global crude oil prices and a strengthening Japanese yen versus dollar also weighed on the domestic sentiment. Markets failed to get any sense of relief with Moody's Investors Service’s statement that Indian economy will grow at 7.5 percent in 2016 and 2017 as it is relatively less exposed to external headwinds, like China slowdown, and will benefit from lower commodity prices. On the global front, Asian stocks were trading lower at this point of time, as investors booked profit after gains in the previous sessions after the recent upmove in global crude oil prices took a breather on the back of rising US oil inventory while global economic growth concerns also weighed on sentiment.

Closer home, textile stocks were reeling under pressure despite the government expectation of Rs 30,000 crore investment in 74 textile parks and is plans to announce a new textile policy by April this year. Minister of State for Textile Santosh Gangwar has said that we are mainly focusing on manufacturing of value-added products and export-oriented goods that will benefit the economy. On the flip side, airline stocks are flying higher after most of them reported higher passenger load in January. The broader indices too were trading choppy, while the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 1,041 shares on the gaining side against 1,122 shares on the losing side while 113 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 23643.33, down by 5.89 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 23508.36 and 23692.45. There were 14 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green and red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.14%, while Small cap index was up by 0.03%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.88%, Auto up by 0.52%, Power up by 0.50%, TECK up by 0.38% and Consumer Durables up by 0.31%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.30%, Energy down by 0.80%, Capital Goods down by 0.30%, FMCG down by 0.19% and Metal down by 0.05%, were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 2.73%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.51%, ICICI Bank up by 2.22%, NTPC up by 1.92% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.54%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.03%, HDFC down by 1.56%, BHEL down by 1.54%, Axis Bank down by 1.37% and Adani Ports &Special down by 1.36% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has rejected the Non Banking Financial Companies' (NBFCs) plea for undertaking the point of presence (POP) services for National Pension System (NPS). NBFCs had sought the central bank's approval for undertaking such services under the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority for NPS. The central bank has examined the proposals and it has been decided, in public interest that NBFCs shall not undertake point of presence services for National Pension System.

The pension scheme is distributed through authorized entities called points of presence (POP) and almost all the banks are enrolled to act as POP. They are the first points of interaction of the pension subscriber with the NPS architecture under the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority. The authorized branches of a POP, called point of presence service providers (POPSP), act as collection points and extend a number of customer services to NPS subscribers.

With an aim to provide financial security to every citizen by encouraging them to start contributing towards the old age saving, the NPS has been launched. The National Pension System, regulated by PFRDA is an attempt towards providing adequate retirement income to every citizen of India. NPS means the contributory pension system whereby contributions from subscribers along with matching contributions from respective governments as an employer, are collected and accumulated in an individual pension account.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7188.10, down by 3.65 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 7145.95 and 7202.20. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were PNB up by 4.90%, SBI up by 2.50%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.38%, ICICI Bank up by 2.14% and NTPC up by 1.84%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 3.26%, Vedanta down by 2.04%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.03%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.66% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.54% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 declined 229.63 points or 1.42% to 15,967.17, Hang Seng decreased 111.54 points or 0.58% to 19,251.54, Jakarta Composite dropped 55.05 points or 1.15% to 4,723.74, Shanghai Composite shed 8.18 points or 0.29% to 2,854.71 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 2.06 points or 0.12% to 1,677.96.

On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 7.4 points or 0.39% to 1,916.24 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 10.37 points or 0.12% to 8,325.04.