Benchmarks erase losses; trade in green

Indian equity benchmarks erased losses and started trading in green in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. Investors however maintained a cautious approach ahead of key corporate earnings as well as macroeconomic data, which will determine market sentiments. The government will release data for Consumer Price Inflation for March and Index of Industrial Production for February on April 12. Infosys will announce its March quarter results on Friday, April 15, when market will be shut. Indian markets will remain closed on Thursday on account of ‘Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Jayanti’ holiday and on Friday on account of ‘Ram Navami’ holiday. Traders were seen piling position in Consumer Durables, Power and TECK stocks while selling was witnessed in FMCG sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Rupa & Company was trading firm as its subsidiary ‘Oban Fashions’ entered into a definitive licence agreement with French Connection on the FCUK brand. Yes Bank was trading in green after foreign brokerage firm maintained its buy rating on the stock. DLF was trading in green after the company initiated the process to sell promoters’ 40% stake in the rental arm, a deal estimated at Rs 12,000-14,000 crore.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red while the European markets traded on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 7,550 and 24,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1320:1097 while 118 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24802.35, up by 128.51 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 24523.20 and 24853.59. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.59%, while Small cap index up by 0.39%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.88%, Power up by 1.36%, TECK up by 1.20%, Capital Goods up by 0.96%, IT up by 0.85% while, FMCG down by 0.61% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 3.80%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 3.54%, BHEL up by 3.43%, Tata Motors up by 2.15% and TCS up by 1.66%.

On the flip side, Lupin down by 1.67%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.14%, Cipla down by 1.02%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.85% and ITC down by 0.56% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Rural Development Minister Birender Singh has said that his ministry has released its share of funds to the tune of Rs 12,230 crore to the states for the rural job flagship scheme MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act). Centre has released funds for MGNREGA, days after the Supreme Court pulled it up for not releasing adequate funds for the scheme.

Singh added that this fund release will take care of the pending wage liability of the states for the previous financial Year 2015-16 and help the states to run the programme during the new financial year 2016-17. He further said that the government is committed to ensuring a flow of adequate resources for fulfilling the programme objectives.

FY-16 has registered expenditure under MGNREGA to the tune of Rs 41,371 crore, which is the highest expenditure under the programme since its inception. Out of this expenditure Rs 30,139 crore has gone towards payment of wages which has allowed for the highest employment generation over the past three years.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7599.50, up by 44.30 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 7516.85 and 7616.75. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Idea Cellular up by 4.68%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.62%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 3.53%, BHEL up by 3.34% and Tata Motors up by 2.57%.

On the flip side, Lupin down by 1.58%, Cipla down by 0.95%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.95%, Grasim Industries down by 0.92% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.88% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Jakarta Composite decreased 72.77 points or 1.5% to 4,773.94, Nikkei 225 decreased 70.39 points or 0.44% to 15,751.13, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 5.3 points or 0.31% to 1,713.10 and KOSPI Index decreased 1.68 points or 0.09% to 1,970.37.

On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted increased 21.09 points or 0.25% to 8,562.59, Shanghai Composite increased 49 points or 1.64% to 3,033.96 and Hang Seng increased 70.41 points or 0.35% to 20,440.81.

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 3.36 points or 0.05% to 6,207.77, France’s CAC increased 17.28 points or 0.4% to 4,320.40 and Germany’s DAX increased 67.52 points or 0.7% to 9,689.78.