Benchmarks continue to trade weak in late morning session

In the extremely range-bound session of trade, Indian benchmark indices altering between positive and negative territory, were now trading flat with bit of negative bias as investors and traders adopting a cautious approach ahead of the April F&O expiry due tomorrow and the US FOMC meet outcome due today. Sentiments remained down-beat with global rating agency Moody's warning to the government over the bad loan situation. The rating agency believes that rising credit profile of corporate India may pose a rating risk to the country. It has said that India faces the risk of sovereign debt levels climbing higher if economic growth isn’t robust enough and could ultimately put pressure on the government’s ability to fund itself. However, losses remained capped  with the SASCOF indication that  Central, western and north western parts of India are likely to get above normal rainfall, while most of the remaining parts of the country, barring some exceptions, are set to get normal rainfall. SASCOF predicted development of weak positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) conditions, which favours good monsoon rainfall, in early part of monsoon season. Further, Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya’s said that the economy is expected to grow over 8 per cent this fiscal with the forecast of above-normal monsson raising hopes of the agriculture sector's revival after two successive drought years.

On the global front, Asian markets trading mostly in negative territory on Wednesday as investors stayed cautious ahead of U.S. and Japanese central bank policy decisions.  Further, US stock indices finished mixed on Tuesday, with the Dow and the S&P 500 posting modest gains while the Nasdaq ended lower as energy companies climbed in tandem with the price of oil, but technology companies fell. Back home, traders were seen piling position in Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables and FMCG stocks while selling was witnessed in Banking, Power and Metal sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Shares of Raymond rallied after the company reported 161% growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 56.2 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 compared with Rs 21.5 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. Furthermore, Bharti Infratel has surged after the company said its board has approved buy back of equity shares worth Rs 2,000 crore and proposed a dividend of Rs 3 per equity share.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2206 stocks traded, 1192 stocks advanced, while 873 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25986.24, down by 21.06 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 25885.24 and 26059.17. There were 15 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.37%, while Small cap index up by 0.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.12%, Consumer Durables up by 0.86%, FMCG up by 0.48%, PSU up by 0.41% and TECK up by 0.34%, while Bankex down by 0.54%, Power down by 0.40% and Metal down by 0.21% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 3.34%, Wipro up by 0.95%, ITC up by 0.92%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.89% and Adani Ports &Special up by 0.74%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.42%, ICICI Bank down by 2.09%, Lupin down by 1.38%, Cipla down by 1.00% and SBI down by 0.87% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow in agriculture sector of the country has increased to Rs 553.14 crore during the April-February period of the fiscal year 2015-16. Minister of State for Agriculture Mohanbhai Kundariya has said that this is much higher than Rs 365.31 crore in the entire 2014-15 fiscal.

According to the government data, in the financial year 2013-14 FDI in agriculture sector stood at Rs 559.66 crore and for financial year 2012-13 it stood at Rs 875.90 crore.  FDI is permitted up to 100 per cent under automatic route in specified activities of agriculture and allied activities. Also, 100 per cent FDI is allowed in plantation sector namely tea, coffee, rubber, cardamom, palm oil tree and olive oil tree.

India has received $51 billion FDI during the April-February period of last fiscal 2015-16. India’s record inflows of FDI has touched the 'highest ever' mark during the period. The FDI numbers indicates that the government has been able to create a suitable climate in which the foreign investors feel confident that interest is protected.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7959.30, down by 3.35 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 7940.55 and 7984.80. There were 23 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 3.39%, ONGC up by 3.22%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.31%, BPCL up by 1.30% and ITC up by 1.04%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.32%, ICICI Bank down by 2.11%, Lupin down by 1.57%, Tata Power down by 1.53% and Ultratech Cement down by 1.49% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 was down by 0.35%, Hang Seng down by 0.4%, Taiwan Weighted down by 0.14%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI down by 0.48% and KOSPI Index down by 0.23%. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 0.05% and Jakarta Composite was up by 0.35%.