Benchmarks make soft start on feeble global cues; RBI’s policy decision eyed

Pressurized by feeble global cues Indian equity benchmarks have made a soft start and are trading slightly in red in early deals on Thursday. Traders remained on sidelines ahead of outcome of Reserve Bank of India’s first bi-monthly monetary policy review of this fiscal, though general expectation are that it will keep interest rates unchanged, in view of inflation numbers but its statement will eyed. Meanwhile, global credit rating agency Crisil in its latest report has said that CPI inflation is likely to average higher at 5 percent in the current fiscal on expectations of increasing pressure on food prices as well as uptick in global oil and commodity rates. Sentiments also remained dampened with Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) survey that more than 95 per cent Indian households prefer to park their money in bank deposits, while less than 10 per cent opt for investing in mutual funds or stocks.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red at this point of time, led by the Japanese market which is down by around one and a half percent as the yen strengthened against dollar. The US markets closed marginally in red in the last session, though the major bourses traded with strength for most part of the day but came under pressure in afternoon trading.

Back home, foreign portfolio investors bought equities worth Rs 340 crore, while they parked over Rs 4,000 crore in equities so far this month. Meanwhile, domestic investors sold equities worth Rs 194 crore in the yesterday’s session. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was strong, with 1170 shares gaining and 963 shares declining, while a total of 84 shares were unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29916.87, down by 57.37 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 29852.30 and 29948.44. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.14%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.82%, Energy up by 0.31%, IT up by 0.24%, Oil & Gas up by 0.09% and Power was up by 0.08%, while Telecom down by 1.03%, FMCG down by 0.66%, Metal down by 0.55%, Healthcare down by 0.46% and Consumer Durables down by 0.24% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 1.68%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.42%, Reliance Industries up by 1.01%, Infosys up by 0.61% and Tata Motors was up by 0.55%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.48%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.42%, Coal India down by 1.34%, ITC down by 1.24% and Adani Ports was down by 1.23% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, scotching rumors about new currency notes in the market, the government has said that there are no plans to demonetise the new Rs 2,000 currency notes and they are seizing fake currency. Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said that as far as rumors are concerned, such rumors should not be considered. He also said that it was not possible for forgers to copy all security features of the new currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 denominations.

Citing that the government has adopted many new security features in the new currency notes, Rijiju said no one can copy 100 percent as the design is indigenous with extra features. He further said that the initial fake currency notes were of very low quality and could be easily identified. The later fake notes used better paper and ink etc. but even these do not match the original notes and can be identified.

He further said that the government is now more alert and has taken many measures to curb fake currency and there were provisions for stringent action against those involved in fake currency. Intelligence agencies are also providing training and creating awareness among the people. According to the data, Border Security Force (BSF) has seized 378 new Rs 2000 currency notes from Assam and West Bengal post demonetization. National Investigation Agency (NIA) has seized 22,677 new Rs 2000 notes worth Rs 4.53 crore from Gujarat and West Bengal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9243.90, down by 21.25 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 9225.90 and 9245.80. There were 14 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 1.46%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.44%, Reliance Industries up by 1.00%, Bank of Baroda up by 0.72% and Infosys was up by 0.60%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 1.92%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.54%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.43%, Coal India down by 1.41% and ITC was down by 1.38% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 declined 277.6 points or 1.47% to 18,583.67, Hang Seng decreased 145.54 points or 0.6% to 24,255.26, Taiwan Weighted fell 65.45 points or 0.66% to 9,884.03, Jakarta Composite slipped 20.63 points or 0.36% to 5,656.35, KOSPI Index shed 13.2 points or 0.61% to 2,147.65 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 4.54 points or 0.26% to 1,740.13.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 3.46 points or 0.11% to 3,273.76.