Benchmarks continue to trade in narrow range with positive bias

Indian equity markets continue to trade in a narrow range with positive bias in noon session, as investors remained cautious ahead of March quarter earnings, which begin later this week. Sentiments got some 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. Some support also came with the report that foreign investors have pumped in a staggering USD 2.45 billion in capital markets in the last four trading 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 (USD 8.7 billion) last month, mainly on expectations that BJP’s victory in recently held assembly polls would lead to faster reforms. Meanwhile, some Information Technology (IT) stocks gained traction 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.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower on Monday amid cautious trades, following the losses on Wall Street on weaker than expected jobs data and rising geopolitical tensions after the US said it will move an aircraft carrier group toward the Korean peninsula. The rise in risks of a conflict contrasts with market watchers' outlook for the global economy, which is perhaps the most optimistic it has been in years, with Chinese data this week expected to show the economy performing well. Further, U.S. President Donald Trump's meetings Friday-Saturday with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping seemed to have little major impact on markets. Meanwhile, European markets were set to follow in Asia's footsteps with index futures pointing to a broadly flat start.

Back home, barring Realty index all the other sectoral indices were in green. In scrip specific development, Madhucon Projects jumped after the company bagged a contract worth Rs 173.60 crore in Maharashtra on EPC Mode. On the other hand, Neuland Laboratories declined after the company’s manufacturing facility at Bonthapally, Hyderabad has been audited by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) from April 3-7, 2017.

The market breadth remained optimistic, as there were 1734 shares on the gaining side against 824 shares on the losing side, while 98 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29731.97, up by 25.36 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 29676.80 and 29831.32. 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 0.59%, while Small cap index up by 0.81%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.33%, Energy up by 1.03%, Industrials up by 0.81%, PSU up by 0.79% and Metal up by 0.74%, while Realty down by 0.03% was the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 1.34%, Tata Motors up by 1.05%, Axis Bank up by 0.79%, TCS up by 0.49% and ITC up by 0.48%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.82%, HDFC down by 0.71%, Wipro down by 0.64%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.59% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid the rising H1B visa concerns, the Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the government is holding talks with the US administration and also working with the industries in this regard. She added that the government is in close touch with those industries which have a stake and which need to be assisted during this transitional phase.

The Minister further said that the government is also working with industry body Nasscom and the Information Technology (IT) industry, and taking their inputs. She said 'The industry also acknowledges that while we are going to the US there are lot of US companies coming to India and are investing for the past several years and many of them are expanding. As much as we are worried about our people going, they are worried about investments coming to India”.

Additionally, Sitharaman has said that the Commerce and the Foreign secretaries went to the US and had initial talks. The 2018 H1-B visa details have been issued and there is no change in US position and the numbers remain largely the same. She also said that from among those who get visas and send people to the US, India still is the largest which needs to be kept in mind.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9213.80, up by 15.50 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 9191.10 and 9225.65. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 3.87%, IOC up by 3.03%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.96%, Yes Bank up by 2.05% and Coal India up by 1.27%. On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing down by 2.13%, Asian Paints down by 1.10%, HDFC down by 0.80%, Wipro down by 0.73% and Eicher Motors down by 0.59% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Jakarta Composite declined 0.28%, KOSPI Index decreased 0.85%, Shanghai Composite shed 0.27% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.19%. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted gained 0.09%, Hang Seng added 0.03% and Nikkei 225 was up by 0.82%.