Markets wipe off gains to trade flat

Erasing all their early gains, Indian benchmarks have turned flat-to-negative in the late afternoon session due to profit-booking by funds and retail investors. Traders remained cautious ahead of June IIP and retail inflation data for July to be released tomorrow. Weakness in Indian rupee too dampened sentiment. The rupee was trading weak at 66.86 against the dollar, down by 15 paise. Most of the sectoral indices were trading in negative territory with metal losing the most, down by over a percent. Selling was broad based with both mid cap and small cap indices were trading with a cut of around half a percent. In scrip specific development, Indag Rubber was trading higher after the company has agreed to acquire more than 51 per cent shares or voting rights in five companies.

On global front, European stocks opened mostly higher as markets in Asia and Wall Street pause for breath amid falling oil prices.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27753.39, down by 21.49 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 27697.33 and 27902.39. 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 0.69%, while Small cap index was down by 0.41%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.58% and IT up by 0.19%, while Metal down by 1.44%, Realty down by 1.44%, PSU down by 0.92%, Auto down by 0.87% and Capital Goods down by 0.72% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Lupin up by 1.77%, TCS up by 0.94%, ITC up by 0.65%, Reliance Industries up by 0.58% and Axis Bank up by 0.56%. On the flip side, Adani Ports & Special down by 2.30%, SBI down by 2.07%, Tata Steel down by 1.77%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.58% and Sun Pharma Inds. down by 1.44% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India is moving to grab more opportunities and planning to push for delinking the investment from proposed Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) with the European Union (EU). Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that India is negotiating a broad-based BTIA with the EU.

The BTIA negotiations began in 2007, so far sixteen rounds of negotiations has concluded. Recently three rounds of stocktaking meetings have been held. On other free trade agreement’s (FTAs), she said that India is negotiating a trade pact with Israel. The eighth round was held in Israel from 24-26 November 2013 wherein discussions took place on market access in goods, rules of origin, custom procedures and trade in services. In the subsequent inter-sessional consultations, the focus has been on a balanced outcome in both goods and services.

Sitharaman further stated that the full impact of the UK's decision to exit EU on India may take some time to unfold and the opportunities for India would depend on Great Britain's negotiations of terms of exit with the EU and their future negotiated trade relations. She added that a Joint Study Group (JSG) has been set up for considering the feasibility of entering into an FTA between India and Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) comprising of five countries Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. An FTA is also being negotiated with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) which comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8553.60, down by 21.70 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 8541.35 and 8601.15. There were 20 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Idea Cellular up by 1.94%, Lupin up by 1.89%, Eicher Motors up by 1.33%, TCS up by 1.12% and ITC up by 0.83%. On the flip side, Bank of Baroda down by 8.54%, Grasim Industries down by 5.55%, Hindalco down by 4.15%, Zee Entertainment down by 3.02% and Bharti Infratel down by 2.62% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted decreased 68.59 points or 0.75% to 9,131.83, Nikkei 225 declined 29.85 points or 0.18% to 16,735.12, Jakarta Composite decreased 19.16 points or 0.35% to 5,404.79, Shanghai Composite decreased 16.11 points or 0.53% to 3,002.64.on flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.27 points or 0.08% to 1,674.30, KOSPI Index surged 4.16 points or 0.2% to 2,048.80, Hang Seng jumped 88.12 points or 0.39% to 22,580.55.

European markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC increased 1.67 points or 0.04% to 4,453.68, Germany’s DAX increased 16.93 points or 0.16% to 10,667.82. On flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 39.14 points or 0.57% to 6,827.28.