Weak trade prevails in afternoon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued their weak trade in the afternoon session as geopolitical issues continued to dominate the scene. Sentiments remained down-beat on a Reserve Bank of India report that credit growth plunged to a whopping six-decade low of 5.08 percent in the financial year 2016-17, as against 10.7 percent a year ago. However, downside was capped with the report that India's Wholesale Price Index (WPI), stood at 5.7% for the month of March 2017 as against the 6.55% in the month of February 2017, as prices of fuel and manufactured items declined. Further, The Ministry has revised its January WPI inflation to 5.53% from 5.25%. In scrip specific development, HCL Technologies (HCL) was trading in green on renewing transformational IT services engagement with Singapore Exchange for another five years.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as investors sought refuge in safe-haven assets in the wake of mounting geopolitical tensions. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29412.02, down by 49.43 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 29363.28 and 29494.08. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.04%, while Small cap index was up by 0.27%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 4.42%, Consumer Durables up by 0.52%, Oil & Gas up by 0.25%, Consumer Disc up by 0.25% and Utilities up by 0.13%, while Telecom down by 0.89%, Metal down by 0.87%, TECK down by 0.54%, PSU down by 0.53% and Power down by 0.49% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 2.60%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.88%, Power Grid up by 0.83%, HDFC up by 0.75% and Reliance Industries up by 0.61%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.61%, Sun Pharma down by 2.32%, Coal India down by 1.55%, Asian Paints down by 1.23% and ONGC down by 0.89% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has approved the employees’ provident fund (EPF) interest rate at 8.65% for the 2016-17 fiscal, which will benefit over four crore subscribers of Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).  According to EPFO estimates, the fund will see a surplus after providing 8.65% interest rate for the last fiscal.

As per the practice, the Central Board of Trustees’ (CBT) decision is concurred by the Finance Ministry after evaluating whether the EPFO would be able to provide the rate approved by trustees through its own income or not. Once the Finance Ministry ratifies the rate of interest approved by the CBT, it is credited into the account of EPFO members for that particular financial year.

However, the Finance Ministry in its recommendation to the Labour Ministry has put a rider that the interest rate should not result in a deficit for the retirement fund. In December last year, a reluctant Finance Ministry had been nudging the Labour Ministry to lower the EPF rate to below 8.65% as approved by the EPFO trustees, as it wanted the interest to be aligned with the rates of small savings. Furthermore, Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya has been maintaining that the EPFO subscribers would be provided 8.65% rate of interest for 2016-17. Earlier, he had said that the CBT had decided to give 8.65% and added that they would have surplus of Rs 158 crore on providing 8.65%.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9134.50, down by 16.30 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 9120.25 and 9160.00. There were 22 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 2.65%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.90%, Grasim Industries up by 1.47%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.97% and Bank of Baroda up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 3.80%, NTPC down by 2.64%, Sun Pharma down by 2.37%, Coal India down by 1.56% and Hindalco down by 1.53% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 51.84 points or 0.21% to 24,261.66, Shanghai Composite declined 31.77 points or 0.98% to 3,214.29, Taiwan Weighted was down by 16.53 points or 0.17% to 9,716.40 and Jakarta Composite dipped 15.67 points or 0.28% to 5,600.88.

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 4.34 points or 0.25% to 1,735.33, KOSPI Index was up by 10.88 points or 0.51% to 2,145.76 and Nikkei 225 surged 19.63 points or 0.11% to 18,355.26.