Benchmarks trade marginally lower in noon deals

Indian benchmark indices were trading marginally in red in noon session, on account of sustained selling by fund and retail investors in the blue chip counters. Sentiments remained under pressure with the report that IMF trimmed India’s annual growth estimate for 2017 by 0.4 percentage points to 7.2 per cent, mainly owing to temporary negative consumption shock induced by cash shortages and payment disruptions from recent currency note withdrawal and exchange initiative. Besides, weak global trends and expectations that some companies may miss their earnings target too affected the market sentiment. However, investors got some confidence with India Meteorological Department’s (IMD’s) statement that India will get normal rainfall this monsoon season, somewhat allaying fears that an El Nino phenomenon may disrupt the weather system that’s the lifeline for the country’s rural economy. The June-September monsoon rainfall this year is expected to be 96% of the long-term average with a 5% error margin bringing relief to millions of farmers in the country. In scrip specific development, RPP Infra Projects was up by over one and half percent after receiving an order worth Rs 97 crore from Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB).

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, following the weak lead overnight from Wall Street, lingering geopolitical tensions, and political uncertainty in Europe. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29301.22, down by 17.88 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 29241.48 and 29373.55. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.44%, while Small cap index was up by 0.41%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.84%, Power up by 1.81%, Realty up by 0.72%, PSU up by 0.57% and Industrials up by 0.52%, while IT down by 0.62%, Bankex down by 0.46%, TECK down by 0.40%, Healthcare down by 0.04% and Consumer Durables down by 0.03% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 3.43%, NTPC up by 2.10%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.60%, Coal India up by 0.88% and HDFC up by 0.59%. On the flip side, TCS down by 0.94%, Infosys down by 0.83%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.77%, Axis Bank down by 0.67% and SBI down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to protect the domestic industries from cheap in-bound shipments, the government is likely to impose anti-dumping duty of up to $118 per tonne on import of 'Hydrogen Peroxide' chemical used by various industries in applications like corrosion control, paper and pulp bleaching from six countries--Bangladesh, Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia, Pakistan and Thailand. 

The directorate general of anti-dumping and allied duties (DGAD) in its final findings has recommended that the chemical was dumped in India which has impacted the domestic players. It has also recommended the duty in the range of $16.91 per tonne to $117.9 per tonne. While the DGAD recommends the duty, Finance Ministry imposes the same. The investigation was initiated on joint application for initiation of anti-dumping investigations by National Peroxide and Hindustan Organic Chemicals. The import of Hydrogen Peroxide has increased to 67,300 tonne during April 2014 to June 2015 from 17,464 tonne in 2011-12.

Countries initiate anti-dumping probes to determine if the domestic industry has been hurt by a surge in below-cost imports. As a counter-measure, they impose duties under the multi-lateral WTO regime. Anti-dumping measures are taken to ensure fair trade and provide a level-playing field to the domestic industry. They are not a measure to restrict imports or cause an unjustified increase in cost of products.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9095.20, down by 9.95 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 9079.50 and 9120.50. There were 19 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 3.63%, Tata Power up by 2.81%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.61%, NTPC up by 2.23% and Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing down by 1.49%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 1.16%, TCS down by 1.04%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.94% and Axis Bank down by 0.93% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted decreased 106.62 points or 1.09% to 9,639.94, Hang Seng shed 106.18 points or 0.44% to 23,818.36, Shanghai Composite declined 27.26 points or 0.85% to 3,169.46, KOSPI Index was down by 10.06 points or 0.47% to 2,138.40 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dropped 1.54 points or 0.09% to 1,739.06.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 increased 13.61 points or 0.07% to 18,432.20 and Jakarta Composite surged 29.03 points or 0.52% to 5,606.52.