Choppiness continues on Dalal Street in noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade choppy in noon deals, with frontline gauges trading in very tight-band owing to weak global cues. Sentiments remained down-beat after Reserve Bank of India’s external advisors showed worries about the monetary policy implications of slowing remittances by overseas Indians for the first time since 2009, even though India does not rely significantly on such funds to meet foreign exchange requirements. Moreover, traders failed to get any sense of relief with report that the country received $ 48 billion in remittances in the first nine months of the previous fiscal.

Global cues too remained sluggish with Asian shares tumbling at one-month lows on Friday as investors braced for the US April payrolls report after jobless claims data out earlier raised doubts over the seemingly rosy employment picture. Back home, depreciation in Indian rupee too dampened sentiments. The rupee depreciated by four paise to trade at 66.59 against the US dollar due to fresh buying of the American currency by banks and importers. On sectoral front, banks and non-banking finance companies are trading mixed. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed granting on-tap universal banking licences to individuals, groups or entities and companies

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25146.82, down by 115.39 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 25057.93 and 25228.31. 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 0.40%, while Small cap index up by 0.01%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.52%, Telecom up by 0.44%, Oil & Gas up by 0.35%, PSU up by 0.27% and Consumer Durables up by 0.24%, while IT down by 0.90%, TECK down by 0.70%, Healthcare down by 0.64%, Realty down by 0.54% and Capital Goods down by 0.45% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 2.53%, SBI up by 1.44%, Asian Paints up by 0.77%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.69% and ICICI Bank up by 0.40%. On the flip side, Adani Ports &Special down by 2.06%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.78%, Wipro down by 1.38%, Lupin down by 1.30% and Tata Motors down by 1.07% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the government is following the approach of ‘Reform to Transform’ through far-reaching structural reforms and has initiated several initiatives to boost investment climate and improve Ease of doing Business.

The Finance Minister while addressing the Business Session of the 49th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Asian Development Bank (ADB) held at Frankfurt, said that though the Asia-Pacific region remains the growth engine for the world, there appears to be a softening in region’s growth rate from 5.9 percent projected last year to 5.7 percent each in 2016 and 2017. But he added that India continues to maintain a high growth rate at 7.65 percent in 2015-16 compared to 7.2 percent in the previous year.

Jaitley also pointed that India’s massive financial inclusion program has enabled opening of over 200 million bank accounts for unbanked persons. India is using AADHAAR, a unique identification system, as a backbone for targeted delivery of financial subsidies and benefits.

Later the minister said that good monsoon will aid in accelerating economic growth of the country and that India can grow at faster pace this year if predictions of good monsoon hold up.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7701.90, down by 33.60 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 7678.35 and 7717.65. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 2.53%, Eicher Motors up by 2.45%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.92%, SBI up by 1.52% and ACC up by 1.33%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.80%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.79%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.74%, Wipro down by 1.54% and Ultratech Cement down by 1.38% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng declined 279.43 points or 1.37% to 20,170.39, Shanghai Composite tumbled 62.77 points or 2.09% to 2,935.07, Nikkei 225 slipped 40.66 points or 0.25% to 16,106.72, Taiwan Weighted shed 21.53 points or 0.26% to 8,146.43 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 1.59 points or 0.1% to 1,643.50.