Markets trade choppy; Sensex down 15 points

The benchmark equity indices continued to trade choppy with slight negative bias in late morning session as funds and retail investors indulged in booking profits at prevailing levels. Sentiments remained down-beat with weak services PMI data released last day. Growth in India's services firms fell to a three-month low of 51.4 in February from 54.3 in January, as output rose only marginally. However broader markets are trading in the green with BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices gaining 0.66% and 0.55%, respectively. Investors got some comfort with the report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 911.98 crore on March 03, 2016. Besides, firm global cues coupled with the appreciation in rupee value against the dollar added to the optimistic sentiments. Staying on the upward trajectory for the sixth straight day, Indian rupee gained another 12 paise to trade at 67.22 against the US dollar in early trade on persistent selling of the greenback in view of increased foreign fund inflows.

On the global front, Asian markets look set to post a third straight weeks of gains on Friday as participants scaled back cautious bets on the global economy after a string of positive US economic data and a recovery in oil and commodity prices. The rebound in risk asset prices could continue if the upcoming US employment report points to solid job gains, but not strong enough to encourage rate rises in the near term. Meanwhile, Wall Street moved higher on Thursday, adding momentum to a recent recovery as the energy and financial sectors emerged into positive territory for the year.

Back home, stocks from Realty, PSU and Oil & Gas counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Banking counter was adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, Shares of Minda Industries have rallied after the company announced an acquisition of the global lighting business of Spain-based Rinder Group for €20 million (over Rs 145 crore). Moreover, Vijaya Bank has surged after the bank received an approval for preferential issue of equity shares to Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) aggregating up to Rs 226 crore (inclusive of premium amount). 

The market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2093 stocks traded, 1134 stocks advanced, while 858 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24591.05, down by 15.94 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 24531.80 and 24719.05. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.66%, while Small cap index up by 0.55%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.24%, PSU up by 0.90%, Oil & Gas up by 0.68%, Metal up by 0.62% and Power up by 0.52%, while Bankex down by 0.45% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 2.46%, Cipla up by 2.42%, Tata Motors up by 2.19%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.75% and BHEL up by 1.60%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.21%, HDFC Bank down by 1.54%, HDFC down by 1.23%, Axis Bank down by 1.14% and NTPC down by 1.11% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, after raising nearly Rs 1,050 crore in the first two tranches, the government will shortly be launching the third tranche of sovereign gold bond for the current fiscal. Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das without disclosing the amount government is expecting to raise said that the government will do maximum publicity and advertising for the same.

In the first tranche of gold bond scheme which was launched in November 2015 the government got subscription for 915.95 kg of gold worth Rs 246 crore. Further in January it came out with the second tranche and received subscription for 3,071 kg gold amounting to Rs 798 crore.

To discourage investors from physical gold, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on November 5 launched gold schemes. The gold bonds are issued in denominations of 5 grams, 10 grams, 50 grams and 100 grams for a term of 5-7 years with a rate of interest to be calculated on the value of the metal at the time of investments. The Gold Bond Scheme will have an annual cap of 500 grams per person.

Budget 2016-17 has proposed redemption of sovereign gold bonds by an individual exempt from capital gains tax.  Further it also provided that long-term capital gains arising to any person on transfer of sovereign gold bonds shall be eligible for indexation benefits. In April-December of the current fiscals, gold imports rose to $26.45 billion, from $25.85 billion in the same period last year. During April-January, gold imports increased to $29.36 billion as against $27.42 billion in the first 10 months of 2014-15.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7466.35, down by 9.25 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 7444.10 and 7505.90. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 2.54%, ONGC up by 2.54%, PNB up by 2.15%, Tata Motors up by 2.08% and BPCL up by 1.93%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.18%, HDFC Bank down by 1.71%, Idea Cellular down by 1.29%, Yes Bank down by 1.23% and HDFC down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by0.4%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.32%, Nikkei 225 up by 0.23% and Hang Seng up by 0.54%. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 0.75%, Shanghai Composite down by 0.49%, KOSPI Index was down by 0.14%.