Benchmarks trade choppy in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks are trading choppy in early deals on Tuesday, with traders keeping a close watch on the monsoon session of Parliament which started on Monday, amid hopes the government will be able to pass the Goods and Services Tax Bill that is now stuck in the Upper House. Sentiments also remained dampened after Fitch expressed concern over deteriorating private investment and the still weak fiscal position. Weak Asian cues too weighed, as most of the regional counterparts were trading in red at this point of time, retreating from their highest level since April as oil fell. Back home, losses remained capped as some support came with the global financial services major Morgan Stanley revising upwards its India growth estimate for this year to 7.7 percent from 7.5 percent earlier, because of 'positive surprises' in the macro data. Market participants also took some relief with Chief economic adviser (CEA) to the finance ministry Arvind Subramanian’s statement that the Indian economy can grow at more than 8 per cent in the next decade if global economic environment remains supportive.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27710.37, down by 36.29 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 27689.96 and 27804.73. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.04%, while Small cap index was down by 0.17%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.60%, Oil & Gas up by 0.49%, Auto up by 0.30%, TECK up by 0.17% and IT up by 0.06%, while FMCG down by 0.91%, Bankex down by 0.49%, Realty down by 0.39%, Consumer Durables down by 0.22% and Power down by 0.05% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 1.37%, Sun Pharma up by 0.86%, GAIL India up by 0.84%, Lupin up by 0.71% and Tata Steel up by 0.62%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.11%, ITC down by 1.14%, SBI down by 0.72%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.66% and HDFC Bank down by 0.55% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, showing the upbeat mood of the Indian Inc., the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Business Confidence Index (BCI), improved by 5.73% to 57.2 in April-June 2016 from 54.1 in the previous quarter. The industry body said that business environment was good in the first quarter ended June due to salary hikes recommended by the Seventh Pay Commission, progress of monsoons and the government's proactive reforms agenda.

In the CII’s survey where 200 firms participated in the exercise, more than 60 per cent of the total respondents were expecting the real GDP growth to range between 7-8 per cent this financial year. Business conditions are also expected to improve as 61 per cent of the firms expect an increase in sales in April-June 2016 compared with only 42 per cent in January-March. Whereas a large proportion of the firms about 40 per cent feel that a turnaround in the global economy is required to jumpstart the private investment cycle. Firm’s top three concerns were domestic demand, fragile global economic recovery and lack of political consensus on economic reforms.

The survey stated that a rise in business expectations sends an early signal that industry is anticipating an upturn in demand propelled by factors such as implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission, progress of a favorable monsoon and pro-active reforms agenda of the government. Report also added, optimism in business sentiment this quarter has been backed by strong expectations of economic growth for 2016-17.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8501.75, down by 6.95 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 8493.65 and 8525.95. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 1.90%, Tata Motors up by 1.69%, Idea Cellular up by 1.44%, Hindalco up by 1.17% and Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.00%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.02%, Bank of Baroda down by 1.35%, Yes Bank down by 0.89%, ITC down by 0.88% and Indusind Bank down by 0.88% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 136.78 points or 0.63% to 21,666.40, Shanghai Composite dropped 21.62 points or 0.71% to 3,021.95, KOSPI Index decreased 8.8 points or 0.44% to 2,012.31, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped 0.96 points or 0.06% to 1,669.88 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.7 points or 0.01% to 9,007.51.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite increased 32.91 points or 0.64% to 5,160.41 and Nikkei 225 was up by 110.98 points or 0.67% to 16,608.83.