Markets continue to trade lower in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade under pressure in early noon session due to profit-booking by funds and retail investors in the front line blue chip counters. Sentiment remained down-beat with a weak trend in other Asian markets tracking overnight losses in the US after strong inflation data that fuelled talk of an interest rate hike. Further, depreciation in the rupee against dollar, which fell for the fifth day, too hit the market sentiment. Meanwhile, India's receipts from invisible services declined 4% to $57.61 billion in the October-December quarter of 2015-16, while payments towards such activities rose by 5.8% to $30.67 billion. At present, the Sensex and Nifty were trading below their crucial 25,550 and 7,850 levels, respectively.

In scrip specific development, share of OCL India has rallied over 16% on the BSE, after the company reported a more than double net profit at Rs 134 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2016 (Q4FY16), due to higher realization and other income. Tata Metaliks was locked in upper circuit for the second consecutive session on Wednesday, following its parent's decision to call off the merger plan. Tata Steel on Tuesday said that it has decided to drop its plan to merge Tata Metaliks and Tata Metaliks DI Pipes with itself.

The market breadth remained negative as 1277 stocks were declining while 990 were advancing.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25532.63, down by 240.98 points or 0.93% after trading in a range of 25506.11 and 25671.48. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green and red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.46%, while Small cap index up by 0.03%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 0.16%, Oil & Gas up by 0.12% and Consumer Durables up by 0.04%, while Auto down by 1.62%, TECK down by 0.95%, IT down by 0.87%, Bankex down by 0.82% and FMCG down by 0.79% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 1.33%, SBI up by 0.90%, Adani Ports &Special up by 0.25%, Lupin up by 0.23% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.10%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 2.35%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.33%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.91%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.91% and HDFC Bank down by 1.70% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to popularize India as a patent filing hub, the government has amended patent rules to offer a ‘Tatkal’ option for speedy clearance of applications by start-ups or those entities that opt for India as a place for first filing of patent. Entities can now choose for speedy clearance route for obtaining patent by paying additional fees if they select India as the International Search Authority or International Preliminary Examining Authorities and file their applications in India first.

India has introduced expedited services for patent registration and also included the definition of 'startup' in the patent rules to pass on special benefits. However, the only new applicants will be eligible for the benefits of the amended rules. India is also planning to reduce the time frame for the grant of patents to two-and-a-half years immediately and one-and-a-half years by March 2018, from the current 5-7 years.

Under the faster clearance route, application fee for individuals and startups is Rs 8,000 while for companies it could be about Rs 60,000. Under normal circumstances, initial patent filing cost ranges between Rs 1,600 and Rs 8,800. The amended rules provide for refund of fees in the case of withdrawal of an application. They provide for full refund of patent application fees and refund of 90% of the fee paid for ‘request for examination (RQ)’. Any payments made twice due to errors in online transaction will also be refunded.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7822.75, down by 68.00 points or 0.86% after trading in a range of 7811.50 and 7852.50. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 1.43%, HCL up by 1.05%, SBI up by 0.93%, Adani Ports &Special up by 0.68% and Lupin up by 0.25%. On the flip side, Bosch down by 2.27%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.27%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.14%, BHEL down by 2.07% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.88% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 325.75 points or 1.62% to 19,793.05, Shanghai Composite decreased 43.35 points or 1.52% to 2,800.33, KOSPI Index decreased 11.33 points or 0.58% to 1,956.73 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 0.07 points or 0% to 1,633.32, while Nikkei 225 increased 0.7 points or 0% to 16,653.50, Jakarta Composite increased 4.89 points or 0.1% to 4,734.05 and Taiwan Weighted increased 19.2 points or 0.24% to 8,159.68.