Markets trade marginally in green in early noon session

In the extremely range-bound session of trade, Indian equity benchmarks altering between positive and negative territory, were now trading flat with bit of positive bias in early noon session on account of buying by investors in the select blue chip stocks. Investors got some support with Niti Aayog Vice Chairman -- Arvind Panagariya’s statement that the Indian economy is expected to grow over 8 percent this fiscal year with a forecast of above-normal monsoon raising hopes of the agriculture sector's revival after two successive drought years. He also said that the economic growth in the current fiscal year could be even higher in view of policy and monetary interventions by the government and the Reserve Bank of India, which will ultimately push the sluggish industrial growth. However, cautiousness remained in markets ahead of the April F&O expiry due tomorrow and the US FOMC meet outcome due today. Sentiment was also weighed down with Moody's Investors Service’s statement that the significant and prolonged deterioration in asset quality of state-run banks is the main threat to India's sovereign credit profile, while also mentioning high government debt as a drag.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as investors remained cautious ahead of US and Japanese central bank policy decisions. Back home, the broader markets are, however, outperforming the benchmark indices. BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were trading up by 0.44% and 0.47% respectively. In scrip specific development, share of Raymond was trading higher after the company reported over a two fold jump 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.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26027.11, up by 19.81 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 25885.24 and 26059.17. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.41%, while Small cap index up by 0.43%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.31%, Consumer Durables up by 0.55%, PSU up by 0.54%, FMCG up by 0.48% and TECK up by 0.43%, while Bankex down by 0.40%, Power down by 0.39%, Metal down by 0.07%, Realty down by 0.05% and Capital Goods down by 0.01% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 3.85%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.44%, Adani Ports &Special up by 2.29%, Wipro up by 0.96% and Asian Paints up by 0.95%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.19%, ICICI Bank down by 1.87%, GAIL India down by 1.25%, SBI down by 1.12% and Lupin down by 1.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has said that the implementation of new pay scales recommended by the 7th Pay Commission is estimated to put an additional burden of Rs 1.02 lakh crore, or 0.7 per cent of GDP, on the exchequer in 2016-17.

Giving details of financial implications of the recommendations, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha has said that the burden on pay head would increase by Rs 39,100 crore to about Rs 2.83 lakh crore in the current fiscal. Without the Pay Commission recommendations, the outgo would have been Rs 2.44 lakh crore. Sinha further said that the Dearness Allowance has no impact on the recommendations of the Pay Commission.

The outgo towards HRA will increase by Rs 17,200 crore to Rs 29,600 crore. The outgo on pension front will be Rs 1.76 lakh crore (increase of Rs 33,700 crore) and on other allowance will be Rs 36,400 crore (up Rs 12,100 crore).

The Empowered Committee of Secretaries headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha to process the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission was set up in January. The recommendations of the Pay Commission will have bearing on the remuneration of 47 lakh central government employees and 52 lakh pensioners.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7969.90, up by 7.25 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 7940.55 and 7984.80. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 3.94%, Bharti Infratel up by 3.25%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.52%, Adani Ports &Special up by 2.23% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.47%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.12%, Tata Power down by 2.08%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.98%, ICICI Bank down by 1.85% and HCL Tech. down by 1.78% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 110.41 points or 0.52% to 21,296.86, Nikkei 225 decreased 56.18 points or 0.32% to 17,297.10, Taiwan Weighted decreased 18.52 points or 0.22% to 8,563.05, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 8.19 points or 0.48% to 1,684.31, KOSPI Index decreased 4.23 points or 0.21% to 2,015.40 and Shanghai Composite decreased 0.03 points or 0% to 2,964.67, while Jakarta Composite increased 16.63 points or 0.35% to 4,830.72.