Benchmarks trade flat in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their trade above neutral line on flat note in late morning session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters as investors awaited Q3 GDP data due later today. US President Donald Trump’s speech at a joint session of Congress later in the day will also be keenly watched. The Central Statistics Office is due to unveil the revised advance estimate for GDP growth for 2016-17 after factoring in the note ban impact in the December quarter. The CSO is also slated to release the numbers for the third quarter which witnessed cash crunch following the government’s decision to scrap high value notes on November 8. The rupee opened down against dollar on account of buying of American currency by banks and importers. According to the data available with depository NSDL, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) stood net buyers in domestic equity market on Monday as they bought shares worth Rs 688.02 crore with gross purchases and gross sales of Rs 9,747.78 crore and Rs 9,059.79 crore, respectively. Traders took support from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that India has potential to grow faster and plans are underway to reduce poverty and create jobs in rural areas. He also expressed his hopes that the GST would be implemented by July 1. Traders were seen piling position in Telecom, Capital Goods and Healthcare stocks, while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, Energy and FMCG sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Future Retail was trading on a firm note after a foreign brokerage firm initiated coverage on the stock with an overweight rating, with an upside target. Den Networks was trading in green on launching its user-friendly online / live streaming platform - DEN TV+ where users can access or watch the content on the go.

On the global front, Asian shares were trading mostly in green, as investors awaited a speech by US President Donald Trump for signals on tax reform and infrastructure spending. Japan’s industrial output unexpectedly fell in January for the first time in six months, pressured by a slowdown in shipments of cars to the United States in a sign of an economy grappling for a more sure-footed recovery. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,850 and 28,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1355:878, while 146 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28834.45, up by 21.57 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 28797.21 and 28876.54. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.13%, while Small cap index was up by 0.42%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.72%, Capital Goods up by 0.41%, Healthcare up by 0.38%, Basic Materials up by 0.37% and Realty up by 0.30%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.75%, Energy down by 0.66%, FMCG down by 0.20%, PSU down by 0.09% and Auto down by 0.01% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.29%, SBI up by 0.80%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 0.76%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.71% and Tata Steel up by 0.67%.

On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.09%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.05%, Tata Motors down by 0.67%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.64% and TCS down by 0.60% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the country still has the potential to grow at a higher rate than today. He also said that a series of action is required to reduce the poverty in the rural areas and they have planned several programmes along with measures to create jobs for rural areas.

Talking about the government’s demonetisation move, Jaitley said that one of the reasons for this move was tax non-compliant and one of the objectives of the note ban was to reduce and eliminate anonymity. He also said that presently there is much greater support for any reform in India.

On the GST front, the Minister further said that the new indirect tax regime would also make generation of cash more difficult, besides making the taxation system much more efficient. For the GST roll-out, he said that the first requirement is constitutional amendment, the law has been passed unanimously and by September 15, 2017 the curtain will be down. He also said that they have resolved most of the critical issues and the legislations have been drafted. He noted that recently they have approved the first draft and by first week of March, the second draft will come up. He also hoped that the bill would be implemented by July 1.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8899.65, up by 2.95 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 8891.65 and 8914.75. There were 29 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 1.15%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.11%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.06%, Bharti Infratel up by 1.01% and Zee Entertainment up by 0.95%.

On the flip side, BPCL down by 3.16%, Idea Cellular down by 2.23%, Coal India down by 2.08%, Grasim Industries down by 1.27% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.90% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite increased 5.46 points or 0.17% to 3,234.12, KOSPI Index increased 7.29 points or 0.35% to 2,092.81, Jakarta Composite increased 15.65 points or 0.29% to 5,398.52 and Nikkei 225 increased 117.77 points or 0.62% to 19,225.24.

On the other hand, Hang Seng decreased 32.75 points or 0.14% to 23,892.30 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 0.14 points or 0.01% to 1,693.70.

Taiwan Stock Exchange was closed on account of ‘Peace Memorial Day’ holiday.