Benchmarks hover near neutral line in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks wiped off some losses and started hovering near neutral line in the late afternoon session. Investors maintained cautious approach with retail inflation inching up to a 22 month high level of 5.77 percent in June against 5.76 percent increase in the previous month. Traders were seen piling position in Metal, Oil & Gas and IT stocks while selling was witnessed in Realty, Consumer Durables and Power sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Cairn India and Vedanta were trading in green on media reports that Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has given its informal acceptance for the proposed merger of Cairn India with Vedanta. Jai Corp was trading firm on reports that environment and forest ministry has cleared the Navi Mumbai Airport. Jai Corp has investments in real estate, Rewas Port, Navi Mumbai SEZ (NMSEZ) and Mumbai SEZ (MSEZ), which are located near to Navi Mumbai Airport. On the other hand, hectic selling activity was witnessed in Indiabulls group stocks like Indiabulls Real Estate, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Indiabulls Ventures and Indiabulls Wholesale Services after I-T officials raided their offices across the country.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green while the European markets were trading mostly on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,500 and 27,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 896:1706 while 149 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27811.73, up by 3.59 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 27752.14 and 27928.76. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.66%, while Small cap index was down by 0.73%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.93%, Oil & Gas up by 0.83%, IT up by 0.72%, TECK up by 0.48% and PSU up by 0.47% while, Realty down by 3.02%, Consumer Durables down by 0.79%, Power down by 0.70%, Auto down by 0.58% and Capital Goods down by 0.42% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 3.86%, Tata Steel up by 3.83%, GAIL India up by 2.95%, Coal India up by 1.55% and TCS up by 1.36%.

On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.77%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.10%, NTPC down by 0.89%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.85% and Asian Paints down by 0.85% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, aided by government reforms, India is expected to increase the share of manufacturing in the overall economy to 25 per cent by 2025 from the current 16 per cent on account of various measures taken by the government, as per a report of Dun & Bradstreet (D&B).

The report said that the various steps taken by the government in terms of measures for ease of doing business, creation of conducive environment for the manufacturing activities, focus on improving industrial policies and FDI enhancement would aid in reviving the manufacturing sector and achieving global competitiveness.

It further noted that for enhancing the share of manufacturing to 25 percent of overall economy would, however, require conducive business environment, investment to support innovation, capital and labour efficiency, shift from low value added sectors towards high value added sectors, efficient business processes, presence of supporting industries along with continued policy thrust amongst other measures. 

As per the report Indian manufacturing companies will have to adapt and increase their focus on developing advanced manufacturing capabilities if they wish to stay competitive at the higher ends of the value chain. It also added that consumption as well as investment demand is likely to remain healthy, support overall growth momentum and push India's nominal GDP to reach $ 6.4 trillion by FY 2025 with real Gross Value Added expected to grow at an average rate of 7.9 per cent till FY 2025.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8514.15, down by 6.90 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 8493.55 and 8550.25. There were 17 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 3.84%, ONGC up by 3.75%, BHEL up by 3.40%, GAIL India up by 3.08% and Idea Cellular up by 1.87%.

On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.80%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.71%, IndusInd Bank down by 1.32%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.22% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.21% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 3.58 points or 0.22% to 1,657.55, Jakarta Composite increased 8.76 points or 0.17% to 5,108.30, Shanghai Composite increased 11.31 points or 0.37% to 3,060.69, KOSPI Index increased 14.32 points or 0.72% to 2,005.55, Taiwan Weighted increased 16.29 points or 0.18% to 8,857.75, Hang Seng increased 97.63 points or 0.46% to 21,322.37 and Nikkei 225 increased 135.78 points or 0.84% to 16,231.43.

The European markets were trading mostly in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 9.41 points or 0.14% to 6,671.28, Germany’s DAX decreased 31.49 points or 0.32% to 9,932.58, while France’s CAC increased 2.4 points or 0.06% to 4,333.78.