Markets trade near neutral line; Sensex above 32,400 mark

Indian equity benchmarks continued their trade near neutral line in late morning session, with the Sensex trading slightly higher, while the Nifty trading slightly below the line. Apart from the mixed global cues, traders were concerned with SBI’s Research report that economy has been on a downslide since September 2016 and the slowdown is real and not technical, calling for more public spending to arrest the slide. Besides, selling pressure witnessed in Auto, Telecom, TECK and IT stocks too weighted on the sentiments. Investors shrugged off World Bank India chief Junaid Ahmad’s statement describing GST as a “tectonic shift” in the country’s taxation policy which has increased the possibility of 8 per cent plus growth. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as investors awaited monetary policy news coming at the conclusion of the US Federal Reserve's two-day meeting. Back home, in scrip specific development, MSR India gained after the company bagged a purchase order of 1200, 1 liter copper bottles worth Rs 6.88 lakh from National Payments Corporation of India (Government of India).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32420.44, up by 18.07 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 32400.11 and 32499.88. There were 10 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.21%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.94%, Energy up by 0.60%, Industrials up by 0.36%, Healthcare up by 0.32% and Realty up by 0.25%, while Auto down by 0.48%, Telecom down by 0.39%, TECK down by 0.37%, IT down by 0.30% and Metal down by 0.27% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 2.37%, ONGC up by 2.08%, Reliance Industries up by 1.67%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.32% and SBI up by 1.10%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.07%, Tata Motors down by 1.71%, Coal India down by 1.59%, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 1.32% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.09% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Information Technology (IT) trade body, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) has said that resumption of fast processing of applications filed under H1-B work visa programme by the United States (US) will help Indian IT firms, who are the biggest users of these visas, to efficiently conduct their business even as they continue to focus on reducing their reliance on visas.

Nasscom President R Chandrasekhar has said that over the last few years, the applications for work visas by Indian IT firms have halved as the companies are leveraging new technologies to reduce dependence on visas to send workers to client sites. He also said that this is certainly a welcome move and they were expecting this to come. He noted that, usually when priority visa processing is suspended, it is done for 2 months or so and this time, it was more, which was different. The US has resumed fast processing of H-1B work visas in all categories subject to Congress-mandated limit, five months after it was suspended temporarily to handle the huge rush of applications for the work visas popular among Indian IT professionals.

R Chandrasekhar has explained that the premium processing route is important because for special skill sets, it is difficult to anticipate the requirements in advance and file applications. When a petitioner requests the agency’s premium processing service, the US citizenship and immigration services (USCIS) guarantees a 15-day processing time. If the 15-day processing time is not met, the agency will refund the petitioner’s premium processing service fee and continue with expedited processing of the application.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10144.90, down by 2.65 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 10137.70 and 10171.05. There were 18 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 2.36%, ONGC up by 2.02%, Reliance Industries up by 1.74%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.44% and SBI up by 1.10%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 2.60%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.93%, Coal India down by 1.76%, Tata Motors down by 1.73% and Sun Pharma down by 1.27% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 increased 0.47 points or 0% to 20,299.85, Jakarta Composite increased 0.99 points or 0.02% to 5,902.32, Shanghai Composite increased 9.05 points or 0.27% to 3,365.89 and Hang Seng increased 58.38 points or 0.21% to 28,109.79.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted decreased 56.97 points or 0.54% to 10,519.17, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 3.4 points or 0.19% to 1,773.26 and KOSPI Index decreased 2.35 points or 0.1% to 2,413.70.