Markets trade flat in early noon session

Indian equity benchmark are trading flat in early noon session. Sentiment was weighed down with the fresh round of selling by foreign investors amid muted expectations of fourth-quarter results and a weak Asian trend, tracking overnight losses at the US markets on growing concern about the state of the global economy. Sentiment further remained downbeat over the report that drought in southern states has affected the cultivation of major commodities like rice, cotton and spices. Production of these commodities is likely to come down sharply if the absence of summer rains prevails. However, traders were getting some support with global rating agency Moody’s Investors Service's report that increasing foreign direct investment provides stable financing of India's current account deficit and is a credit positive,as per which the efforts to liberalize foreign investment limits in several sectors and the 'Make in India' campaign are bearing fruit.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as investors pulled back from risk amid worries about the Japanese yen's strong run. Back home, in scrip specific development, share of Sagar Cements zoomed over 19% after the company reported a 42 percent (YoY) growth in cement production in the month of March. Religare Enterprises was trading higher after the company has completed its exit from the asset management joint venture - Religare Invesco Asset Management Company (RIAMC) and Religare Invesco Trustee Company (RITC).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24653.07, down by 32.35 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 24608.51 and 24736.03. There were 14 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.21%, while Small cap index up by 0.39%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 0.56%, Capital Goods up by 0.48%, PSU up by 0.21%, Oil & Gas up by 0.11% and Metal up by 0.11%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.63%, TECK down by 0.62%, IT down by 0.54%, Auto down by 0.33% and Realty down by 0.06% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Lupin up by 2.04%, NTPC up by 2.02%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.01%, ICICI Bank up by 0.89% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.78%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.67%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.43%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.27%, Axis Bank down by 1.13% and TCS down by 1.08% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has said that the government's move to reset interest on small savings schemes (SSS) quarterly based on the G-Sec yields is a move in the right direction and is a positive step. This new move will reduce the income expense gap of the National Small Savings Fund (NSSF), which has been rising over the years, besides aligning the return on SSS to market rate.

Rating agency further said that the interest rate on SSS in the second quarter of 2016-17 is likely to be 20-25 bps lower than that in first quarter of 2016-17 due to the decline in benchmark government securities rate in response to monetary easing.

Last month, the government had cut interest rates on all small savings schemes, including PPF, Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) and senior citizen deposits, to make them more market aligned.  Interest rate on Public Provident Fund (PPF) scheme has been cut to 8.1 per cent for the period April 1 to June 30, from 8.7 per cent at present. Similarly, the interest rate on KVP will be reduced to 7.8 per cent from 8.7 per cent while senior citizen savings scheme of five years would earn 8.6 per cent interest compared with 9.3 per cent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7551.45, up by 5.00 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 7526.70 and 7569.35. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 2.15%, NTPC up by 1.98%, Lupin up by 1.92%, ACC up by 1.86% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.52%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.76%, Idea Cellular down by 1.42%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.34%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.20% and Bharti Infratel down by 1.11% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Jakarta Composite decreased 35.97 points or 0.74% to 4,831.32, Shanghai Composite decreased 32.73 points or 1.09% to 2,975.69, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 7.69 points or 0.45% to 1,716.60 and KOSPI Index decreased 1.84 points or 0.09% to 1,972.05, while Taiwan Weighted increased 51.25 points or 0.6% to 8,541.50, Nikkei 225 increased 88.18 points or 0.56% to 15,838.02 and Hang Seng increased 119.82 points or 0.59% to 20,146.23.