Benchmarks continue lackluster trade slightly in green

Indian equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade slightly in green in late morning session on account of buying in front line blue chip counters. Traders were taking support with CII Business Confidence Index released during the weekend, which said that India Inc.’s perceptions about the state of the economy slid in the last quarter of 2016-17, yet industry’s confidence levels about the future have peaked to their highest level in more than six years. Foreign investors have pumped in a staggering $2.45 billion in capital markets in the last four sessions on the back of improved investor sentiments driven by passage of GST bills and growth in manufacturing sector. This comes following a record net inflow of Rs 56,944 crore ($8.7 billion) last month, mainly on expectations that BJP’s victory in recently held assembly polls would lead to faster reforms. Select Information Technology (IT) stocks were trading in green taking support with Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that the government is holding talks with the US administration over the H1-B visa issue and also working with the industries. She said that the government is in close touch with those industries which have a stake and which need to be assisted during this transitional phase. Traders were seen piling position in Oil & Gas, Energy and Industrials stocks, while selling was witnessed in Realty and Consumer Durables sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Neuland Laboratories was trading in red after USFDA issued two observations, under form 483, to its manufacturing facility (unit 1) at Bonthapally, Hyderabad after inspecting it during April 3-7. Realty major Sobha was trading under pressure after its promoter Sobha Menon sold 40 lakh shares or 4.15 percent in the real estate firm at an average price of Rs 414.9 per share on Friday.

On the global front, Asian shares were trading mostly in red, as the increased geopolitical risks combined with expensive valuations prompt investors to shun risky assets in favour of safe-haven bets such as government debt. Tokyo stocks opened higher with a weaker yen lifting carmakers and other exporters. Japan’s current account surplus stood at 2.81 trillion yen ($25.26 billion) in February, the biggest surplus since March 2016. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 9,200 and 29,700 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1640:765, while 98 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29727.15, up by 20.54 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 29676.80 and 29831.32. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.46%, while Small cap index was up by 0.71%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.20%, Energy up by 1.01%, Industrials up by 0.72%, Metal up by 0.69% and PSU up by 0.66%, while Realty down by 0.56% and Consumer Durables down by 0.05% were the losers on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 1.41%, Tata Motors up by 1.07%, Axis Bank up by 0.86%, Reliance Industries up by 0.65% and TCS up by 0.55%.

On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.02%, HDFC down by 0.94%, Lupin down by 0.59%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.56% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.40% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a development that could ease the worries of rise in current account deficit (CAD), India’s gold import witnessed a fall of about 24 per cent to $23.22 billion in April-February period of the last fiscal, compared to $30.71 billion in the corresponding period of 2015-16. However, on a month-on-month basis, gold import jumped to $ 3.48 billion in February as against $ 1.4 billion in the same month last year.

The contraction in the gold import during April-February helped in narrowing the trade deficit to $95.2 billion during the 11-month period of 2016-17, as against $114.3 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal. For the full year 2015-16, CAD stood at $ 22.1 billion, or 1.1 per cent of GDP, as against $ 26.8 billion, or 1.3 per cent, in 2014-15.

According to the commerce ministry data, India had witnessed a 43 per cent year on year decline in gold imports in the month of January, 2017, mainly due to demonetization, on subdued demand resulting from cash crunch. India is one of the largest gold importers in the world, and the imports mainly take care of demand from the jewellery industry. Total gold imported during 2015-16 stood at 968 tonnes.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9210.30, up by 12.00 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 9191.10 and 9225.65. There were 33 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 2.96%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 2.76%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.69%, Yes Bank up by 1.91% and Coal India up by 1.29%.

On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing down by 1.78%, Asian Paints down by 1.25%, HDFC down by 0.97%, Lupin down by 0.67% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.62% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; KOSPI Index decreased 20.48 points or 0.95% to 2,131.25, Shanghai Composite decreased 9.87 points or 0.3% to 3,276.74, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 3.3 points or 0.19% to 1,738.42 and Jakarta Composite decreased 1.24 points or 0.02% to 5,652.24.

On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted increased 5.23 points or 0.05% to 9,878.60, Hang Seng increased 7.95 points or 0.03% to 24,275.25 and Nikkei 225 increased 129.51 points or 0.69% to 18,794.14.