Markets continue to trade lower in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade under pressure in early noon session, on account of sustained selling by fund and retail investors in the blue chip counters , amid weak cues from the Asian markets. Sentiment came under pressure after growth in India's manufacturing sector dropped in April owing to weak demand. Sentiment remained dented with as exports of over half of the 30 sectors including petroleum products, textiles, man-made yarn and fabrics, engineering and leather, closely monitored by the Commerce Ministry were in the negative zone in March due to a fall in global commodity prices amid tepid demand.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red, as investors registered their disappointment over the lack of fresh stimulus from Japan's central bank. The surge in the Japanese yen and bleak readings from a monthly factory managers' survey did little to lighten the gloom. Back home, in scrip specific development, shares of Yes Bank were trading higher after the Reserve Bank of India approved increase in investment limit by foreign institutional investors/foreign portfolio investors up to 60% under the portfolio investment scheme from existing 49%. On the other hand, Oberoi Realty plunged 3.96% after the company reported a drop in its net profit to Rs 65 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2016 as compared to Rs 103 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter last year as sales of its residential projects reduced during the period.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25414.15, down by 192.47 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 25341.14 and 25565.44. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.84%, while Small cap index up by 0.14%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.03%, Metal up by 0.93%, Auto up by 0.14% and Oil & Gas up by 0.08%, while Bankex down by 0.95%, IT down by 0.86%, Realty down by 0.82%, TECK down by 0.78% and Capital Goods down by 0.60% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 1.25%, Lupin up by 0.88%, GAIL India up by 0.40%, Reliance Industries up by 0.31% and Sun Pharma up by 0.30%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 3.74%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 2.22%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.70%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.33% and ITC down by 1.23% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, days after chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian termed India's trade policy as ambivalent, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that India has a clear picture in its way to move ahead on the trade front and is certainly not aimless when it comes to trade negotiations.

The minister further said that India is not an obstructionist in the 16 country Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), but will not yield on the offers it has made for opening up goods and services in the agreement and will keep pursuing them. In fact, in RCEP, India's offer on Mode 3 services that allow foreign commercial presence is more liberal than other nations' as it has apprehensions only on opening up financial, insurance and legal services.

Referring to change in the order of trade across the world, Sitharaman said that tariff is not a very powerful tool any longer and one must understand trade from a non-tariff route. She also spoke about how G-20 countries are getting more defensive about their exports and imports and how India has become defensive on steel import duty.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7805.65, down by 44.15 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 7777.30 and 7823.00. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 3.68%, Cipla up by 1.24%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 1.21%, Lupin up by 0.93% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.91%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 3.95%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 2.00%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.97%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.50% and TCS down by 1.30% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 518.67 points or 3.11% to 16,147.38, Jakarta Composite decreased 34.81 points or 0.72% to 4,803.77 and KOSPI Index decreased 16 points or 0.8% to 1,978.15.