Key benchmark indices continue to trade marginally in red

Key benchmark indices continued to trade marginally in red in the afternoon session, on account of sustained selling by fund and retail investors in the blue chip counters. Sentiments remained dampened as the United Nations (UN) has lowered India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for the financial year 2017. As per the UN World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid- 2017 report, the Indian economy is expected to grow at 7.3 percent in 2017, a downward revision from the 7.7 percent forecast in January. Investors were also worried about US President Donald Trump’s ability to push through his economic agenda following accusations that he tried to quash an FBI probe. However, losses remained capped as some support came with Indian Meteorological department’s (IMD) statement that the southwest monsoon will hit Kerala on May 30, two days ahead of schedule. Normally, the monsoon season begins on June 1. The onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala signals the arrival of monsoon over the Indian subcontinent. In scrip specific development, RPP Infra Projects was up by over two percent after bagging an order worth approximately Rs 33 crore of TSTRANSCO (Transmission Corporation of Telangana).

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red as a rise in political uncertainties dented risk sentiment with investors keeping their eyes on developments in the White House. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 30568.03, down by 14.57 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 30519.14 and 30642.94. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.07%, while Small cap index was down by 0.03%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.36%, Basic Materials up by 0.62%, Telecom up by 0.36%, Power up by 0.32% and Utilities up by 0.25%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.71%, IT down by 0.66%, TECK down by 0.45%, FMCG down by 0.33% and Healthcare down by 0.28% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 7.76%, ICICI Bank up by 1.44%, Hero MotoCorp up by 0.86%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.73% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.73%. On the flip side, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.54%, Infosys down by 1.08%, Wipro down by 0.96%, Sun Pharma down by 0.88% and HDFC down by 0.87% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Indian government has expressed hope that US’ review of the H-1B visa regime would take into account the contribution of Indian companies to American businesses along with the positive bilateral relations between the two countries. 

Information Technology (IT) Secretary Aruna Sundararajan has said that concerns on visa changes were ‘premature’ as the US administration has merely initiated a review and no action has been taken yet to curb the number of such work permits to Indian companies. However, she also expressed hope that when the US government does the meeting for review of the H1-B visa regime, they will take into account what has been value added by Indian companies. 

IT secretary further highlighted that only 17% of the total 85,000 visas go to Indian companies, and that a very large number of US companies actually ride on the back of the services provided by the Indian companies. She also said that the Indian government is already in very close co-ordination with the US authorities, and the value proposition and the partnership India has with the US is well known. She added that any changes or any review will be built on that foundation.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9504.35, down by 7.90 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 9489.70 and 9521.00. There were 20 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 7.94%, Indiabulls Housing up by 2.69%, ICICI Bank up by 1.49%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.93% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.89%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.56%, Bosch down by 1.93%, Yes Bank down by 1.73%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.55% and ACC down by 1.23% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 104.94 points or 0.53% to 19,814.88, Hang Seng shed 42.16 points or 0.17% to 25,293.78, Jakarta Composite was down by 22.51 points or 0.4% to 5,624.49, Taiwan Weighted declined 17.82 points or 0.18% to 10,013.67, Shanghai Composite dipped 7.31 points or 0.23% to 3,105.65, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 6.38 points or 0.36% to 1,771.77 and KOSPI Index slipped 2.25 points or 0.1% to 2,293.08.