Markets make a cautious start tailing mixed global cues

Indian markets made a cautious start of the new week, while the Asian markets were giving mixed cues there was no positive trigger to support the domestic markets, though the major indices were trading modestly in green. There was some concern with a private survey stating that the full impact of the government's decision to demonetise high denomination currency in November is likely to show up in the December quarter's GDP growth number that comes out Tuesday. It expects the GDP growth for the quarter ended December 31, to be in the range of 5.5 to 6.5 percent. Last year, the GDP grew by 7.2 percent in the same period. Traders in the region were eyeing US President Donald Trump's first address to the US Congress on Tuesday. The president is expected to lay out his plans for tax and health-care reform and infrastructure spending. There was some buzz in the power sector stocks, as the power ministry has finally framed new rules to get electricity supply from independent power producers (IPP) in lieu of dry fuel, which is aimed at offering more freedom to states to use their allocated coal. In scrip specific development Reliance Industries after a day of break was surging again, up by over 5 percent on brokerages fresh upgrade.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28931.72, up by 38.75 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 28812.88 and 28954.67. There were 14 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.23%, while Small cap index was up by 0.42%.
The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 2.57%, Oil & Gas up by 1.43%, Healthcare up by 0.50%, Metal up by 0.32% and Utilities up by 0.22%, while Telecom down by 1.50%, Bankex down by 0.57%, Auto down by 0.38%, FMCG down by 0.28% and TECK down by 0.11% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 5.78%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.36%, GAIL India up by 1.33%, Sun Pharma up by 1.23% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.96%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 1.84%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.69%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.52%, Power Grid down by 1.33% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.15% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, global rating agency, S&P rating in its latest Asia-Pacific (APAC) Economic Snapshots, has said that the negative effects of demonetisation on the Indian economy have begun to reverse but it is still far from returning to pre-November 2016 trends.

Regarding the macroeconomic indicators, the report said that inflation eased further in January mainly due food and fuel and the Reserve Bank of India kept its benchmark repo rate on hold at 6.25 percent. It also praised fiscal deficit target of 2017-18, saying that the Indian government announced a reasonably ambitious fiscal deficit target of 3.2 percent of GDP in the fiscal year ending March 2018, keeping the headline indicator on an improving trend.

S&P which had earlier said that note ban will have a 'higher disruptive impact' on informal, rural, and cash-based segments of the economy, after the government announced demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, had recently revised downwards its estimated economic growth rate for 2016-17 by one percentage point to 6.9 per cent to reflect the disruption caused by the surprise move of demonetisation.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8943.15, up by 3.65 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 8913.65 and 8951.80. There were 18 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 5.73%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 1.50%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.38%, Sun Pharma up by 1.36% and GAIL India up by 1.25%. On the flip side, Idea Cellular down by 2.05%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.96%, Axis Bank down by 1.92%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.91% and Zee Entertainment down by 1.50% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slumped by 117.16 points or 0.57% to 19,166.38, Taiwan Weighted declined by 18.84 points or 0.19% to 9,750.47, Jakarta Composite decreased by 11.84 points or 0.22% to 5,374.07, Shanghai Composite was down by 8.72 points or 0.27% to 3,244.71 and KOSPI Index was lower by 5.22 points or 0.25% to 2,088.90

On the other hand, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 3.21 points or 0.19% to 1,701.56 and Hang Seng increased by 19 points or 0.08% to 23,984.70.