Markets trade flat with positive bias

Erasing all of their losses, Indian equity benchmarks traded flat with positive bias in late afternoon session, on the back of higher opening in European markets and optimistic Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) data. India’s manufacturing sector growth improved for the fourth consecutive month in April due to stronger growth of new orders and lengthening delivery times. The PMI index remained at 52.5 in April to match March’s reading. Investors took encouragement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion that India was never a more promising investment destination than it is today. He also highlighted that at present, Indian economy is the world's fastest growing major economy. Therefore, to maintain this pace, he said that their focus is to eliminate the inefficiencies from the system. Some support also came with the private report that India is projected to see impact investments worth up to $40 billion by 2025, as the country is in a sweet spot with high potential to deliver solutions for various problems. However, upside remained capped with the FICCI’s survey report that the protectionist trends gaining strength in the developed world could have an adverse impact on India’s export performance.The survey of nearly 185 companies further stated that Indian industry is already grappling with low demand as most companies are not getting the benefit of credit flow at lower rates.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green as investors reacted to fresh earnings and awaited the upcoming French presidential vote. Asian markets were also trading in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, Maruti Suzuki traded higher after the company posted its best ever volume growth to 144,492 units in the domestic market in the month of April, an increase of 23.4% compared with 117,045 vehicles sold in the same period last year. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29925.57, up by 7.17 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 29804.12 and 30069.24. 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 0.10%, while Small cap index was up by 0.23%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.89%, Oil & Gas up by 0.93%, Consumer Durables up by 0.90%, IT up by 0.55% and Consumer Disc up by 0.53%, while Telecom down by 1.14%, Healthcare down by 0.85%, Utilities down by 0.76%, Power down by 0.72% and Basic Materials down by 0.67% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 2.98%, HDFC up by 2.79%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.72%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.31% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.04%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 2.19%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.95%, Sun Pharma down by 1.89%, Tata Motors down by 1.52% and NTPC down by 1.46% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, aided by stronger growth of new orders and lengthening delivery times, India’s manufacturing sector growth improved for the fourth consecutive month in April. The seasonally adjusted Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI)-a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance- remained at 52.5 in April to match March’s reading.

The survey results showed that new export orders rose for the third month in a row, but the rate of expansion eased from March and was slight overall. Further, even though growth softened slightly since the preceding survey period, output expansion witnessed solid growth. The survey also found that stocks of finished goods dropped for the twenty-second month running during April. However, the rate of depletion slowed to the weakest in the year-to-date. It further noted that stocks of purchases continued to rise, albeit growth eased from the preceding survey period.

On inflation front, purchasing costs increased for the nineteenth straight month in April on the back of higher prices in metals, chemicals and plastics. The rate of cost inflation gathered pace since March and was above the average recorded over the current sequence of rises. Moreover, Less than 5 per cent of manufacturers raised their output prices in April, while almost 93 per cent signalled no change. Nonetheless, the pace of employment growth remained slight overall.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9308.10, up by 4.05 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 9269.90 and 9352.55. There were 24 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing up by 4.50%, ONGC up by 3.11%, HDFC up by 2.72%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.67% and BPCL up by 2.57%. On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 3.16%, Ambuja Cement down by 2.81%, ACC down by 2.43%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.22% and Lupin down by 2.21% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite increased 1.18 points or 0.02% to 5,686.47, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 12.32 points or 0.7% to 1,780.38, KOSPI Index increased 14.23 points or 0.65% to 2,219.67, Taiwan Weighted increased 69.27 points or 0.7% to 9,941.27, Hang Seng increased 81 points or 0.33% to 24,696.13 and Nikkei 225 increased 135.18 points or 0.7% to 19,445.70. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite decreased 10.95 points or 0.35% to 3,143.71.

All the European markets were trading in green; Germany’s DAX increased 13.37 points or 0.11% to 12,451.38, France’s CAC increased 14.8 points or 0.28% to 5,282.13 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 44.55 points or 0.62% to 7,248.49.