Benchmarks make cautious start on feeble global cues

Indian equity benchmarks have made cautious start to the new August F&O series and are trading marginally in red in early deals on feeble global cues. However, losses remained capped with efforts to hammer out a consensus on the Goods and Services Tax bill gathering momentum. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanyam held several rounds of talks with leaders from opposition parties. Congress the main opposition described the exercise as 'constructive and positive' and the bill is likely to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha next week. Some support also came with report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,767.06 crore yesterday as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

Global cues remained weak, with Asian counters were trading mostly in red at this point of time, ahead of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy announcement scheduled today, while the oil headed for its biggest monthly decline in a year. The US markets continued their sluggish trade for the third straight session and made another mixed close in last session, as traders reacted to the release of a slew of quarterly results from big-name companies.

Back home, the market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was strong, with 1026 shares gaining and 695 shares declining, while a total of 98 shares were unchanged. On the sectoral front, sugar stocks remained on buyers’ radar, as the government is mulling imposing stock limit for sugar millers and restricting domestic sales by fixing quota on each mill to tame sweetener's retail prices.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28157.79, down by 50.83 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 28117.04 and 28233.47. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.70%, while Small cap index gained 0.29%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.11%, Realty up by 0.93%, Metal up by 0.86%, Power up by 0.47% and FMCG up by 0.42%, while TECK down by 0.55%, IT down by 0.52%, Consumer Durables down by 0.49%, Bankex down by 0.31% and Capital Goods down by 0.28% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 1.86%, Tata Steel up by 1.68%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.28%, Axis Bank up by 1.15% and Lupin up by 1.11%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 1.64%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.63%, Wipro down by 1.01%, HDFC down by 1.00% and Infosys down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, stressing transformational changes rather than having incremental changes, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked NITI Aayog to prepare a vision document containing a roadmap for India's development for the next 15 years to bring transformational changes. He said that he Union Government had the “courage and the ability” to deliver transformational change for bettering the lives of the people.

The Prime Minister expressed his confidence in the think tank and said “I am sure team NITI Aayog is working in the right direction towards creating the Vision Document for India”. He asked the NITI Aayog to focus on human resource development, and “work towards intensive partnership with all states,” who should be “equal partners in economic and social development.” He said judicious and intelligent application of India's natural and human resources would be at the heart of the change.

He highlighted the importance of technology as an emerging driver of change over the last three decades, and asserted that this pace of change would not slacken. He further stressed upon the need to build capacities for good governance, and highlighted the importance of real-time data availability.

PM mentioned land, the country’s mineral wealth, and vast untapped solar energy potential and said India had made sub-optimal use so far of its vast coastline. He also stressed on the need to develop India’s tourism potential. Partnerships with States for promoting development and boosting exports were need of the hour.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8657.00, down by 9.30 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 8643.00 and 8670.35. There were 31 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 3.58%, Tata Steel up by 1.79%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.67%, Bosch up by 1.37% and Lupin up by 1.17%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 1.78%, BHEL down by 1.71%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.63%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.20% and Wipro down by 1.11% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 182.4 points or 0.82% to 21,991.94, Taiwan Weighted dropped 70.18 points or 0.77% to 9,006.46, Nikkei 225 slipped 3.48 points or 0.02% to 16,473.36, KOSPI Index dipped 2.51 points or 0.12% to 2,018.59, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI shed 2.35 points or 0.14% to 1,656.15 and Shanghai Composite was down by 2 points or 0.07% to 2,992.33. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 27.49 points or 0.52% to 5,326.70.