Trade continue to remain choppy, Nifty manages to hold 7900 level

Markets continue to trade choppy in the noon trade, all the attempts of recovery were being sold out at higher levels, lacking any major supporting cues. The global cues too remained unsupportive and after weak trade in the Asian markets, the major European markets too have made a weak start despite the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday maintained status quo on policy rate and President Mario Draghi assured to maintain a loose money policy. Back home, both the major indices were trading in a tight range with Sensex tad lower from its crucial psychological level of 25900, while the Nifty was managing to hold the 7900 levels. The markets were also being pressured by the weakness in rupee, which weakened against the US dollar, tracking losses in the Asian currencies market. On the sectoral front, while most of the indices were trading in green IT was still in somber mood, while the consumer durables and technology packs too were witnessing some profit taking.The private sector banking stocks were showing a mixed reaction to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI’s) master direction for merger of private sector banks and also between non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and banks. The central bank provided direction for issue and pricing of shares by private sector banks. It also said the decision of amalgamation should be approved by respective boards by two-thirds majority and not just by members present and voting. Kotak Mahindra Bank was down by 1%, Yes Bank was marginally in green, ICICI Bank was down by over half a percent and HDFC Bank was up by over half a percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25859.93, down by 20.45 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 25771.88 and 25922.02. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.16%, while Small cap index gained 0.11%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.04%, PSU up by 0.84%, Bankex up by 0.63%, Capital Goods up by 0.38%, Metal up by 0.31%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.96%, FMCG down by 0.55%, IT down by 0.40%, TECK down by 0.29%, Realty down by 0.05% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 3.06%, SBI up by 3.01%, ONGC up by 1.64%, Tata Motors up by 1.47% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.45%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.79%, HDFC down by 1.77%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.66%, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 1.33% and BHEL down by 1.20% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, all the 23 cities and towns from as many States and Union Territories that were given opportunity to participate in the 'Fast Track Competition' under Smart City Mission have submitted their revised plans. The revised plans of these 23 cities would be evaluated by May 15, 2016 and those meeting the benchmark set by the winning cities in the first round of Smart City Challenge Competition will be announced for extending central assistance.

As only 12 States and UTs were represented in the first list announced on January 28, 2016, the Urban Development Ministry offered another opportunity to the unrepresented 23 States and UTs to participate in Fast Track Competition in pursuance of the principle of urban transformation across the country.

On evaluation of Smart City Plans of 97 cities in the first round of competition and announcement of the first list of 20 smart cities, the remaining were informed of the deficiencies in the plan. The regular second round of City Challenge Competition for the remaining cities included in the Smart City Mission got underway on April 1st and these cities will have to submit revised smart city plans by the June end this year. The 23 cities included in the Fast Track Competition and fail to be selected can also join this second round of competition.

While 20 smart cities were selected during 2015-16 as per the Mission Guidelines, another 40 would be selected during 2016-17 and the remaining 40 during the next financial year. Each city selected in different rounds of competition will be given central assistance of Rs 200 crore in the first year and Rs 100 crore each during the subsequent three financial years.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7909.40, down by 2.65 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 7873.35 and 7923.35. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bank Of Baroda up by 3.49%, SBI up by 3.09%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.99%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 2.26% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.77%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.91%, Asian Paints down by 1.86%, HDFC down by 1.79%, Sun Pharma Inds down by 1.34% and BHEL down by 1.28% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Shanghai Composite was up by 6.35 points or 0.22% to 2,959.24, Jakarta Composite gained 11.86 points or 0.24% to 4,914.95 and Nikkei 225 surged by 208.87 points or 1.2% to 17,572.49.

On the other hand, Hang Seng was down by 155.21 points or 0.72% to 21,467.04, Taiwan Weighted lost 32.9 points or 0.38% to 8,535.75, KOSPI Index declined by 6.61 points or 0.33% to 2,015.49 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was lower by 4.51 points or 0.26% to 1,716.96

European markets were trading in red, UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 41.37 points or 0.65% to 6,340.07, Germany’s DAX declined by 40.13 points or 0.38% to 10,395.60 and France’s CAC was lower by 14.38 points or 0.31% to 4,568.45.