Markets trade marginally in green in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade marginally in green in early noon session on account of buying by funds and retail investors in some select stocks amid firm cues from the Asian markets. Sentiment got some support with the report that a normal monsoon this year is expected to provide 20% boost to the income of farmers, whose debt leverage has touched 22% following two years of droughts. Besides, fresh influx of foreign funds and encouraging March quarter earnings by some companies, too maintain uptrend in the markets. However, there was some cautiousness too after US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen suggested that an interest rate hike may occur if economic growth picks up and there is an improvement in the labour market.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher, led by Japan, as the yen weakened amid growing confidence that the US economy is strengthening enough to handle higher borrowing costs as early as this summer. Back home, in scrip specific development, share of Dynamatic Technologies rallied over 14% after the company reported over three-fold jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 19.22 crore for the quarter ended March 2016 (Q4FY16) on the back of strong operational performance. The company had profit of Rs 5.04 crore in a year ago quarter. Tech Mahindra was trading higher after the company’s board approved the proposal to acquire Target TOPCO, a UK-based entity.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26693.07, up by 39.47 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 26623.33 and 26794.96. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.15%, while Small cap index was up by 0.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.09%, IT up by 1.43%, TECK up by 1.21%, Auto up by 0.86% and PSU up by 0.25%, while Power down by 0.71%, Consumer Durables down by 0.60%, Oil & Gas down by 0.50% and Realty down by 0.36% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 4.27%, Tata Motors up by 3.79%, Infosys up by 1.66%, TCS up by 1.56% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.51%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 3.82%, HDFC down by 3.13%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.83%, Tata Steel down by 1.55% and Sun Pharma down by 1.51% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, global industry body World Steel Association (WSA), in its latest report has revealed that India, the world's third largest steel producer, was among the top 10 importers of the alloy last year. India imported 13.3 million tonnes (MT) of the metal in 2015, slightly higher from 13.2 MT of steel imported by China during the same period. WSA data also showed that India exported 7.6 MT of steel in 2015, which was just a fraction of what its neighbour China exported during the same period at 111.6 MT.

As per the data of WSA, European Union as a bloc imported 37.7 MT of steel last year, which was followed by the US with 36.5 MT, Germany 24.8 MT, South Korea 21.7 MT, Italy 19.9 MT, Turkey 18.6 MT, Vietnam 16.3 MT, Thailand 14.6 MT and France 13.7 MT.

WSA forecasted that India's steel demand is expected to grow by 5.4 per cent to 83.8 MT in 2016 on the back of low oil prices and reform momentum. Regarding outlook it said that economic environment facing steel industry continues to be challenging with China's slowdown impacting globally across a range of indicators contributing to volatility in financial markets, sluggish growth in global trade and low oil and other commodity prices.

Recently the industry body had said that India's prospects are brightening due to low oil prices, the reform momentum and policies to increase infrastructure and manufacturing output. India’s steel demand will increase by 5.4 per cent in both 2016 and 2017 reaching 88.3 MT in 2017.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8170.85, up by 14.20 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 8150.80 and 8200.00. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 10.28%, Coal India up by 4.32%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.90%, Tata Motors up by 3.69% and Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.80%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 3.55%, HDFC down by 2.83%, Zee Entertainment down by 2.17%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.70% and Tata Steel down by 1.61% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; Shanghai Composite increased 0.68 points or 0.02% to 2,821.73, Jakarta Composite increased 20.47 points or 0.43% to 4,835.20, Taiwan Weighted increased 72.26 points or 0.85% to 8,535.87, Hang Seng increased 116.37 points or 0.57% to 20,693.14 and Nikkei 225 increased 233.18 points or 1.39% to 17,068.02, while FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 9.89 points or 0.6% to 1,627.30 and KOSPI Index decreased 2.04 points or 0.1% to 1,967.13.