Markets trade flat with Positive bias in range-bound session

In the extremely range-bound session of trade, Indian benchmark indices altering between positive and negative territory, were now trading flat with bit of Positive bias as investors and traders were adopting a cautious approach, ahead of the RBI's bi-monthly monetary policy review on Tuesday.  Further, with crude oil price touching seven month high of $ 50 a barrel, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said India can handle the current level but higher rates will impact the economy and lead to inflationary pressure. India, which depends on imports to meet 80% of its oil needs, will have to spend $ 1.36 billion more for every dollar per barrel increase in crude oil prices while also seeing surge in inflation. Also, PSU Bank stocks will be in focus ahead of the performance review meeting today. However, investors got some confidence with the Met department’s latest report, stating that the conditions continue to remain favourable for the onset of the southwest monsoon over Kerala over the next 2-3 days. Appreciation in the rupee against dollar too supported market sentiment. Indian rupee strengthened by 37 paise to 66.88 against dollar in early trade on increased selling of the American currency by exporters amid foreign fund inflows. Some support also came in from reports that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,585.01 crore on June 03, 2016.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as disappointing U.S. jobs data released on Friday showed that the U.S. economy created the fewest number of jobs in more than than five years in May. The US Labor Department said Friday that non-farm payroll employment edged up by just 38,000 jobs in May, compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 158,000 jobs. While the data raised doubts whether the Federal Reserve will be able to raise interest rates at its meeting later this month, it also weakened the U.S. dollar and boosted commodity prices as well as regional currencies.

Back home, stocks from Realty, Capital Goods and information technology (IT) counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Consumer Durables, Metal and Oil & Gas counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, shares of Jubilant Life Sciences have rallied after the company has received final approval from the US health regulator for generic Levetiracetam injection, used for treatment of epilepsy, in the American market. Moreover, Suven Life Sciences gained after the company secured product patents in Israel and Mexico corresponding to the New Chemical Entities (NCEs) for the treatment of disorders associated with Neurodegenerative diseases and these Patents are valid through 2032.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2252 stocks traded, 1110 stocks advanced, while 1045 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26860.00, up by 16.97 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 26821.94 and 26901.42. 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 0.05%, while Small cap index up by 0.26%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.96%, Capital Goods up by 0.60%, IT up by 0.22%, Bankex up by 0.16% and Auto up by 0.14%, while Consumer Durables down by 1.03%, Metal down by 0.62%, Oil & Gas down by 0.19%, FMCG down by 0.09% and Power down by 0.08% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.19%, SBI up by 1.73%, GAIL India up by 1.47%, Cipla up by 0.85% and BHEL up by 0.81%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.14%, Adani Ports &Special down by 2.08%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.83%, Tata Steel down by 1.33% and Axis Bank down by 1.18% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to make the different macro indices more representative in the changing economic scenario, the government will soon be coming out with the revised Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and Wholesale Price Index (WPI) indices by the end of the current year with a new base year of 2011-12 from the present base year of 2004-05.

Chief Statistician TCA Anant commenting on the development said that as part of the revision, the basket of items and weightage assigned to different entries on the basis of which indices is computed will be updated and added that with the new series in place. He added that with the revision, both the IIP and WPI will become more comparable with the GDP numbers than it is currently.

Anant further said that IIP and WPI indices revision are under process at a very advanced stage and added that both of these will be revised shortly within the current year. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) which releases the data of national income (GDP) as well as WPI and Consumer Price Index (CPI) is working on bringing out an index for the services sector. The government has last revised the IIP and WPI indices in 2011 with the base year of 2004-05. The National Statistical Commission has recommended to revise the base year of all economic indices every five years.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8224.65, up by 3.85 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 8212.00 and 8234.70. There were 25 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.06%, SBI up by 1.81%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.75%, GAIL India up by 1.42% and Eicher Motors up by 1.13%. On the flip side, Adani Ports &Special down by 2.18%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.05%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.82%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.50% and BPCL down by 1.39% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Nikkei 225 was down by 0.65%, Hang Seng was down by 0.28%, Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.1% and Shanghai Composite was down by 0.12%. On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 0.53% and Jakarta Composite was up by 0.52%.