Key benchmark indices trade flat with negative bias

Key benchmark indices continued to trade flat with negative bias in noon session, on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters tailing weak global counterparts. Sentiments also remained down-beat with the report that despite many efforts of the government, India remained at the 130th position out of 190 countries globally, and managed to move up just one rank in the World Bank's ease of doing business ranking this year, even the one place improvement was because the last year's ranking was revised lower to 131. Further, losses in the Banking, FMCG, IT, Oil & Gas and Tech stocks too dampened the mood. However, investors got some support with the Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das’s statement that the GDP growth will be around 8 percent this fiscal, while the agriculture sector is expected to grow over 4 percent. In scrip specific development, Axis Bank dropped as much as 7 percent after its quarterly net profit plunged 83 percent in the September quarter, mainly due to higher provisioning for bad loans.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red following the weak cues from Wall Street and the fall in crude oil prices overnight. Weak corporate earnings results and economic data also weighed on investor sentiment.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27869.33, down by 222.09 points or 0.79% after trading in a range of 27840.34 and 28050.55. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.01%, while Small cap index was up by 0.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.71%, Realty up by 0.56%, Metal up by 0.33%, Auto up by 0.21% and PSU up by 0.07%, while Bankex down by 1.25%, FMCG down by 0.92%, IT down by 0.49%, Oil & Gas down by 0.32% and TECK down by 0.18% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero MotoCorp up by 2.70%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.62%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.46%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.39% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.35%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 8.00%, ICICI Bank down by 2.77%, Tata Motors down by 2.27%, ITC down by 1.78% and Asian Paints down by 1.59% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, despite many efforts of the government, India remained at the 130th position out of 190 countries globally, and managed to move up just one rank in the World Bank's ease of doing business ranking this year, even the one place improvement was because the last year's ranking was revised lower to 131 from which the country has improved its place by one spot. The government was expecting at least a 10-spot jump on the back of several ease of doing business measures taken in the past two years. The list of countries in the Doing Business 2017 is topped by New Zealand while Singapore is ranked second.

The rankings are based on ten parameters which includes starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. Out of 10 parameters, India’s ranking this year improved in two, remained unchanged in three and worsened in five. Though, in the ranking, India has made a substantial improvement in some areas such as electricity connection, but slippage in other areas, including payment of taxes and enforcing contracts, prevented improvement on the rankings that is followed widely by global investors.

The report titled ‘Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All’,noted that the country has embarked on a fast-paced reform path, and the Doing Business 2017 report acknowledged a number of substantial improvements, mentioning electricity connections to businesses, paying taxes, electronic system for paying employee state insurance contributions, electronic filing of integrated customs declarations, the Companies (Amendment) Act, passage of the commercial courts and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

The government has been making efforts to further improve the ease of doing business and aims to bring the country in the top 50. Expressing disappointment over no change in India's ranking in the World Bank's index, Indian government regretted that the report did not take into consideration 12 key reforms undertaken by the government. Industry secretary Ramesh Abhishek has said that the government will soon appoint an external agency and launch a portal for round-the-clock feedback from users on the policy steps launched by the government.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8637.50, down by 53.80 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 8617.90 and 8657.30. There were 20 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Idea Cellular up by 4.38%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 3.09%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.63%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.50% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.52%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 8.09%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 3.00%, ICICI Bank down by 2.80%, Tata Motors down by 2.44% and Bharti Infratel down by 2.14% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 200.01 points or 0.85% to 23,365.10, Taiwan Weighted decreased 23.4 points or 0.25% to 9,362.25, KOSPI Index decreased 23.28 points or 1.14% to 2,013.89, Shanghai Composite decreased 14.46 points or 0.46% to 3,117.48, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 3.45 points or 0.21% to 1,673.98 and Jakarta Composite decreased 3.2 points or 0.06% to 5,394.62. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 increased 26.59 points or 0.15% to 17,391.84.