Benchmarks trade choppy in noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks are trading choppy in noon deals as investors opted to book some of their profits at higher levels. Though, key gauges managed to keep their head above water ahead of the release of national income figures for fourth quarter, as well as for 2015-16, due on Tuesday. Meanwhile, India Ratings and Research said that the economic growth is expected to be 7.5 percent in 2015-16, lower than advance estimate of 7.6 percent by the Central Statistics Office. Positive regional cues too aided some sentiments. Asian markets were trading mostly in green at this point of time, 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, gains remained capped as weakness in Indian rupee weighed down sentiments. The rupee depreciated 25 paise to 67.28 against the dollar in noon deals following month-end demand for the American currency from importers and banks. On the sectoral front, Metal stocks remained on buyers’ radar with global industry body World Steel Association’s (WSA) report that India, the world's third largest steel producer, was among the top 10 importers of the alloy last year. Infrastructure related scrips too edged higher, as Finance Minister starting his 6-day visit to Japan aimed at attracting investments from Asia's second biggest economy, has said that a number of Japanese investors have shown keen interest in investing in India’s infrastructure growth story.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26684.24, up by 30.64 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 26623.33 and 26794.96. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.24%, while Small cap index up by 0.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.15%, IT up by 1.40%, TECK up by 1.19%, Industrials up by 0.72 and Auto up by 0.63%, while Power down by 0.70%, Consumer Durables down by 0.52%, Utilities down by 0.35, Finance down by 0.28% and Realty down by 0.27% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 4.18%, Tata Motors up by 2.86%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.79%, Infosys up by 1.64% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.54%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 3.98%, HDFC down by 3.13%, Sun Pharma down by 1.82%, Adani Ports & Special down by 1.67% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.24% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, industry body Assocham, coming down strongly against comments made against RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, by some sections of the government has said that politicians should not make such adverse comments against a man with impeccable rack record and leave the decision to Prime Minister Modi to decide.

Assocham in a statement said that the post of RBI Governor should not be dragged into avoidable controversies unless serious offence has been committed by an incumbent, contending the central bank has played a pivotal role in bringing about a macroeconomic stability for India, making it the best among the emerging markets.

The chamber further stated that “Surely, it is the prerogative of the government to appoint and re-appoint a person to the coveted position of RBI Governor, but the kind of media statements being issued about Dr Raghuram Rajan by senior politicians do not augur well for the country’s financial system, which is passing through a challenging time because of unprecedented levels of stressed assets in the banks.

It also said that, while one can argue about the inflation staying an obsession of the RBI, the central bank has been mandated by the targets of inflation set by an agreement set by the Finance Ministry. Besides, the RBI has been talking about sustainable growth trajectory, rather than infusing a bubble into an over-leveraged economy. The industry body said that it would only urge restraint on the part of senior politicians and others and leave it to the good wisdom and judgement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi so far as the re-appointment of the RBI Governor is concerned.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8165.80, up by 9.15 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 8150.80 and 8200.00. There were 25 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 10.88%, Coal India up by 4.34%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.72%, Tata Motors up by 3.42% and Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.39%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 3.94%, HDFC down by 2.94%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.96%, Sun Pharma down by 1.94% and Adani Ports & Special down by 1.70% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; Jakarta Composite increased 20.35 points or 0.42% to 4,835.08, Hang Seng gained 62.13 points or 0.3% to 20,638.90, Taiwan Weighted rose 72.26 points or 0.85% to 8,535.87 and Nikkei 225 was up by 233.18 points or 1.39% to 17,068.02.

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 9.76 points or 0.6% to 1,627.43, KOSPI Index slipped 2.04 points or 0.1% to 1,967.13 and Shanghai Composite was down by 0.83 points or 0.03% to 2,820.22.