Markets trade lower in early deals

After managing a flat closing in last session, Indian equity benchmarks have made a weak start and are currently trading with cut of over quarter a percent on account of selling by market participants amid weak cues from other Asian markets. Further, there were some worries in the market with recent rise in crude oil prices that will adversely impact India's fiscal deficit situation and will increase fuel price inflation, as India imports about 80% of its crude requirements, besides, selling in IT stocks too weighed down sentiments on the back of rupee gaining strength against the US dollar.  The rupee rose by 6 paise to trade at a fresh four-week high of 66.59 against the US dollar in early trade today on sustained selling of the American currency by banks and exporters. Investors failed to draw any solace with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that his dream was to economically empower every Indian by 2022, the 75th anniversary of India's Independence Day.  On the sectoral front, most of the sectoral indices on BSE were trading in green, with prominent gainers being the stocks from Power, Oil & Gas, PSU, Metal and Consumer Durables counters. On the flip side, stocks from IT, TECK and FMCG counters were in red.

In the scrip specific development, Bharat Petroleum Corporation was higher on the Bombay Stock Exchange, after the Reserve Bank of India informed that FIIs and registered FPIs can now invest up to 49% of the paid-up capital of the company under the portfolio investment scheme. The existing investment limit was 24%.

On the global front, US markets ended higher on Wednesday with the Dow Jones industrial average rising for the third straight day to end above 18,000 led by energy shares after crude oil prices stayed above $50/barrel mark. Asian markets were trading mostly in red despite Wall Street gained overnight.

Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8250 and 26,850 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1019: 491, while 81scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26835.58, down by 185.08 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 26833.81 and 26994.91. There were 9 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.34%, while Small cap index was up by 0.47%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.14%, Oil & Gas up by 1.08%, PSU up by 0.94%, Metal up by 0.83% and Consumer Durables up by 0.48%, while IT down by 1.16%, TECK down by 0.88% and FMCG down by 0.17% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 1.93%, ONGC up by 1.53%, Reliance Industries up by 1.15%, Axis Bank up by 1.12% and Tata Motors up by 0.75%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.56%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.92%, Asian Paints down by 1.13%, Lupin down by 1.08% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.69% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, giving further push to the infra sector, the governing council of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund chaired by finance minister Arun Jaitley, reviewed progress of operationalising India’s maiden sovereign wealth fund NIIF, and discussed investment proposals and project pipeline in a bid to speed up development of the infrastructure sector.

The meeting discussion which also included the selection of NIIF CEO and projects shortlisted for making initial investments, was attended by Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Duggal and State Bank of India Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya and former Infosys director T V Mohandas Pai, apart from the Finance Minister.

At its second meeting, the Council reviewed overseas long term investors, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds’ interest in investing in the NIIF. They also discussed the guidelines for investment of the corpus of NIIF, including the investment policy. Public sector companies are also expected to invest in the initial corpus of the Fund. The Governing Council was apprised of the interactions that have been held with a large number of long-term investors, Sovereign Wealth Funds, Pension Funds from across the globe, seeking to invest in the NIIF. The Council was also apprised of the refinement in the structure of NIIF pursuant to discussions with investors.

Set up in December 2015, NIIF will act as an investment vehicle for funding commercially viable greenfield, brownfield and stalled projects. The government has proposed a corpus of Rs 40,000 crore for NIIF, which will invest in infrastructure projects. The government  holds 49 per cent in the NIIF, while the rest will be held by private investors.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8252.05, down by 21.00 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 8247.25 and 8273.35. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 2.23%, Tata Power up by 2.19%, BPCL up by 1.60%, ONGC up by 1.39% and Reliance Industries up by 1.19%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.71%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.92%, Lupin down by 1.06%, Asian Paints down by 0.99% and HDFC down by 0.90% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Nikkei 225 decreased 153.08 points or 0.91% to 16,677.84, Jakarta Composite decreased 9.95 points or 0.2% to 4,906.11,Shanghai Composite decreased 8.89 points or 0.3% to 2,927.16 and KOSPI Index decreased 3.34 points or 0.16% to 2,023.74. On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.23 points or 0.07% to 1,659.08.