Benchmarks hover near the lowest point of the day

Indian equity benchmarks continued its weak trade hovering near the lowest point of the day in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments were under pressure after Bank of Japan kept the monetary policy steady defying market expectations. BOJ also surprised investors by deciding against any fresh market stimulus despite shocking data that underlined the huge problems facing the country’s economy. Traders were seen piling positions in Realty and Consumer Durables sector stocks while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Auto and Power sector stocks. In scrip specific development, hectic buying activity was witnessed in Mumbai-based realty stocks following the city’s civic body’s draft plan, recommending a steep hike in floor space index. FSI is the ratio of a building’s total floor area to the size of the land upon which it is built and indicates how much a developer can construct on a particular plot of land. The market may remain volatile today as traders may roll over positions in the Futures & Options (F&O) segment from the near month i.e. April 2016 series to next month i.e. May 2016 series. The near month April 2016 derivatives contracts will expire today i.e. April 28, 2016.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red while the European markets traded on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 7,950 and 25,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 842:1540 while 151 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25791.47, down by 272.65 points or 1.05% after trading in a range of 25761.63 and 26100.54. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.12%, while Small cap index down by 0.52%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.03%, Consumer Durables up by 0.07% while, FMCG down by 1.53%, Auto down by 1.09%, Power down by 1.09%, Oil & Gas down by 1.04%, IT down by 1.04% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 0.87%, TCS up by 0.77%, Coal India up by 0.40%, Lupin up by 0.17% and Axis Bank up by 0.02%.

On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.61%, BHEL down by 2.23%, ITC down by 2.07%, HDFC down by 2.05% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.91% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) believes that India’s demand on market access for its professionals under the proposed Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) will be politically difficult to concede. Since the talks started in 2007, India has been demanding data adequacy under services trade, mainly for its IT-ITeS professionals, as this is expected to boost the country’s IT offshore industry with free flow of data. It is doubtful that the EU will grant this demand as it will require a legislative change by the European Parliament.

European Commission’s Trade department has said that “India’s demand on getting more market access for its professionals is a bit too high. It will be difficult to accommodate their demand on services trade”.  However, talks on all these issues are underway at the technical level between both sides. There is no decision yet on when the two sides would have a formal round of talks.

Furthermore, for data adequacy the EU would have to recognise India as a “data secured” nation and this does not come under the ambit of the BTIA. Both sides have also set up a joint working group on this issue as the European Commission believes India’s cyber security laws have “huge gaps” and do not conform to European standards.
 
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7902.55, down by 77.35 points or 0.97% after trading in a range of 7892.65 and 7992.00. There were 14 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 3.50%, Idea Cellular up by 1.52%, Bharti Infratel up by 1.06%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.75% and TCS up by 0.55%.

On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 3.89%, Hindalco down by 2.90%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.65%, ITC down by 2.19% and BHEL down by 2.11% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 624.44 points or 3.61% to 16,666.05, Taiwan Weighted decreased 89.18 points or 1.04% to 8,473.87, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 19.91 points or 1.18% to 1,672.43, KOSPI Index decreased 14.47 points or 0.72% to 2,000.93, Jakarta Composite decreased 13.14 points or 0.27% to 4,832.52 and Shanghai Composite decreased 8.08 points or 0.27% to 2,945.59.

On the other hand, Hang Seng increased 26.43 points or 0.12% to 21,388.03.

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 74.79 points or 1.18% to 6,245.12, Germany’s DAX decreased 103.95 points or 1.01% to 10,195.88 and France’s CAC decreased 52.22 points or 1.15% to 4,507.18.